Scandalous hype

Johannesburg - Adverts that have allegedly been banned in certain countries are increasingly going viral and being exposed to a global audience. This begs the question: Would agencies create ads that will be undoubtedly be taken off the air just to generate hype?

And we are not talking about those that play dangerously close to the edge, but jump over.

A Tom Ford fragrance print ad featured a naked woman with only the bottle where her underwear should have been. Then there's the German Sprite ad showing a couple engaged in oral sex with a woman thinking "I could really go for a Sprite right now". Next, the lid of the soft drink bottle is shown popping off and the drink splashing into the air. It was apparently aired once before being pulled.

Renee Silverstone, CEO of the Jupiter Drawing Room, says she doubts that Coca-Cola could have been involved in such a stunt. Having said that, she adds that it is possible for such projects to be made because creative work is ultimately about recognition, but they run the risk of alienating their clients and doing a disservice to the profession.

Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and Draftfcb executive chairperson Nkwenkwe Nkomo described such actions as irresponsible. "I wouldn't do that, it's taking a serious risk and wasting the client's money. Provocative is one thing but being outright offensive is another, and in the long run it can harm the product's image."

Tim Byrne, CEO of Grey Worldwide described creating advertising to gain attention at any cost as going against the grain of the ASA. "We need to be responsible in our work or the Government might have to step in to regulate us and this could lead to censorship."

He used Nando's as an example of a company that regularly pushes the envelope. The difference is that Nando's does it in a clever way and is good at understanding the public mood. The company has an understanding of how it's positioning itself and how far it can go.

This consideration could have played a role in Microsoft pulling its online ad of a woman throwing up. The ad made an appearance on the IE8videos channel on YouTube and was pulled within days of a consumer outcry.

The company even released a statement explaining its decision; but how can authenticity be known in the case where there's no response. Coca-Cola kept mum about the Sprite situation, in keeping with its no PR stance. The ad was eventually revealed to be fake, but until it was, most of the people who saw it believed it to be genuine.

Silverstone said Coca-Cola made the right choice, explaining that it was best to not react. The only exception would be if serious damage was caused to the brand.

Nkomo differed on this: "I'd expect any marketer worth his salt to distance himself if he didn't produce the work." He ended off by saying that technology was making it increasingly difficult to differentiate between what's real and what's not.

- Fin24.com