Is your advertising insensitive?

THAILAND’S Donut Ad. Voted by Mumbrella Asia as 2013’s Most Inappropriate Ad.

Not all jokes are funny. The world has heard many culturally, religious and politically incorrect jokes.

Racism, gender differences and other kinds of jokes proliferate in mass media. Physically challenged people are the most common target. The overweight, pug-nosed, dark-skinned. . .  the list could fill up a page.

At this age, too, many people still subscribe to the idea that “women with whiter skin are prettier.” Thus, we see too many skin whitening products  in the local market and Pinays, even men, gobble them, all wanting to look like Snow White.

Advertisers and their ad agencies will not stop to venture far beyond their imagination, even bordering on the bizarre.

Suicide ad

Have you heard about using suicide to sell a car?

Last year, two well-known brands made global headlines because of the rhubarb their respective ad campaigns created. Not because they swept awards one after the other from the world’s biggest advertising festivals but because their bright ideas spawned controversies.

A car brand and its ad agency publicly apologized for a commercial they produced, showing a man trying to kill himself with the exhaust fumes from his new vehicle.

The commercial was about the car’s clean-air emission feature. To dramatize it, the ad showed the car windows taped up and a hose running from the exhaust pipe to the house. Soon, fumes filled it up, but we see the man still breathing without a headache.

According to the World Health Organization, one person commits suicide somewhere in the world every 40 seconds. The ad may have triggered some viewers to relive painful memories about loved ones that did the same.

This is probably what happened to Holly Brockwell, a London advertising copywriter. In her blog, Brockwell said her father killed himself in the same way as was shown in the ad. She posted a photo of her father’s suicide note and wrote to the carmaker. Here, we are reprinting it:

“I’ve worked on automotive accounts. I actually worked on a Japanese brand. And strangely, not once did it seem that the best way—the most intelligent way, the most creative way—to advertise their products to people was to remind them of the horrendous event that is suicide.

Strangely enough, I could—and still can—think of a thousand more interesting, creative ideas that wouldn’t have left me feeling like I’ve just lost my dad all over again.

So, I’d like to ask that next time you want to tell the world about a new innovation in car design, you think about it for a little bit longer. Think about me. Think about my dad. And the thousands of other suicide victims and the families they left behind. My dad never drove a car just like yours. Thanks to you, neither will I.

India case

A multinational ad agency in India also received a lot of flak for a sexist campaign it did for another car brand. Both agency and client apologized to the public, and soon after, the agency’s chief creative officer was axed.

One ad featured a caricature of three scantily clad women gagged and bound in the trunk.  A second showed Paris Hilton winking from the driver’s seat, while Kim Kardashian and two others were similarly gagged behind the car.

In a statement, the car manufacturer said that, “the posters were contrary to the standards of professionalism and decency within the company and our agency partners. Together, we are reviewing approval and oversight processes to help ensure nothing like this should ever happen again.”

The timing of the campaign was interesting, according to an Indian newspaper. Obviously, it was being readied for “The Abbys,” an Indian awards show where print ads are dominated by scam ads (produced without prior approval by clients).

Mumbrella Asia, the region’s most provocative online advertising magazine (www.mumbrellasasia.com) voted Singapore Army’s direct mail “Recruitment” ad as Asia’s Sexist Ad for 2013 for targeting women with make-up and mirror. It came under fire for what a gender equality advocacy group believed to be sexist to enlist women. The front of the pack read: “Discover shades of green that bring out the best in you” next to an image of a make-up brush.

Last year, a donut brand in Thailand stirred the marketing world and the controversy reached more than just skin deep. Complaints circled around the globe and some people called it “racist.” Clients immediately pulled out the ad and issued an apology for their new charcoal donut line.

The ad featured a Thai woman with stylized black hair and makeup. She was shown holding a black donut with a bite out of it. In a statement to the Daily News, the chief communications officer said the campaign for the dark chocolate donuts was “insensitive.”

“On behalf of our Thailand franchise and our company, we apologize for any offense it caused,” the statement said. The TV spot was also immediately pulled out.

Australia

NineMSN News Australia also listed Australia’s 10 Most Offensive TV Ads for 2013. Here they are:

1. A TV commercial of an energy drink poking fun at the sinking of the Titanic.

2. A restaurant TV commercial showing Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe frolicking with dead dictators Muammar Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein and Idi Amin.

3. A feminine napkin ad showing a woman repeatedly using the words “vaginal discharge.”

4. An insurance ad for discriminating against obese people. It also found the chain saw scene in the ad very suggestive of violence.

5. A viral video showing a member of a stunt crew taping five firecrackers to his face and lighting them. Miraculously, the man wasn’t hurt in the next few seconds of the explosion.

6. Two distracted women in a car ad crashing into water. It was banned for depicting situations contrary to prevailing community standards on health and safety.

7. A TV commercial showing a baby at the wheel of an SUV. It sparked outrage causing it to be issued a cease-and-desist-to-air order.

8. A deodorant for its double entendre, banned for discriminating against old men.

9. An entrepreneur promoting a wide range of products and boisterously caricaturing boat people and containing inappropriate phrases.

10. A Tampon maker, branded as “transphobic” and for saying transgender people are not real women because they do not menstruate.

What happens when we don’t have an industry that self-regulates? Angry citizens, chaos, complaints that could  cause big losses in business.

“Advertisers should not only sell but uphold truth in advertising and protect the interest of consumers,” says a university communications professor.

“All over the world, creative people are idolized and regarded as rock stars by impressionable advertising freshmen. They wield so much power to influence because of their creativity. Creativity put to good use can change the world. But they should not take offense,” says an award-winning Filipino advertising copywriter.

Do you advertise frequently? Do you work in an advertising agency? Are you fond of using superlative words such as “the best,” “the fastest,” “the most preferred” “win millions of cash” and other words that can create confusion and may mislead?

To back up your claims and not trick consumers is responsible advertising.

Think not only about sales and creativity. As Ad Standards Council (ASC)) says, “Think within the context of the local environment, the community where you live and within the constraints of the laws of the land.”

Think like Bill Bernbach, the man who revolutionized advertising in the  ’60s and who said: “All of us who profess to be in media have a responsibility to our society. We can vulgarize it or lift it onto the highest level.”

(ASC is a non-stock, not-profit organization which aims to promote truth and fairness in advertising through self-regulation of advertising content. Established by the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP), Philippine Association of National Advertisers (PANA) and the Association of of Accredited Advertising Agencies Philippines  (4A’s), it started operations in March 31, 2008, taking over the function of Advertising Content and Review Committee (ACRC) of the Advertising Board of the Philippines (Adboard).