Badvertising

Posted By elissa on Jun 25, 2010 | 2 comments

Years ago, John and I used to laugh at the televsion ads for an online computer retail outlet – Outpost.com.  The basic theme of the ads could be summed up as: “we want you to remember our name… so we’re going to do something unbelievably offensive to attract your attention”

…like tattooing toddlers at a day care center…

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0n0Dq_AqgI]

or setting a pack of ravenous wolves on a high school marching band…

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cmT8M_67ow]

Ok, the ads were funny because viewers knew that they were staged: little kids weren’t really being tattooed and band members weren’t actually being mauled. They were jokes – but they obviously attracted attention, as the ads are still kicking around, years after they first aired. 

But was it an effective strategy to attract business?  Not from my perspective: I learned exactly nothing about Outpost.com’s products or services from those ads. Thus, I had NO reason to prefer it to other walk-in retail hardware/software stores in the immediate area.  Yeah, the ads were memorable, but they didn’t induce me to even check out Outpost’s online catalog, let alone buy anything from it.

Fast forward to the present, and these award-winning billboard ads from Interbest Outdoor:

The tactic is similar: the use of outrageous, offensive “humor” to attract attention to a business.  And Lord knows these billboards are attention-grabbing… I don’t see how ANY passing motorist could ignore them. But like Outpost.com, the ads have FAIL written all over them.

Think about it… If I were a business owner contemplating a billboard ad for my products/services, would these images make me want to buy one of those billboard spaces? I think not…  If I thought they were funny, I wouldn’t be inclined to cover them up.  And – more to the point – if I thought they were offensive, I would NOT want to give my business to the insensitive jerks who put them up in the first place. So, while they definitely grab my attention – just like Outpost.com’s ads did – they do exactly jack to sell me on the service being provided.

And these ads really ARE offensive.  Unlike Outpost.com, they aren’t pretending to be outrageous – those are pictures of real people that passersby are being invited to mock. That the figures are headless (and thus, anonymous), doesn’t make it any less cruel – in fact, it serves to dehumanize the models further.  Portraying them in their underwear is the final indignity, as no one voluntarily strips down to their skivvies in public. These ads are about degrading and humiliating overweight people, which is neither edgy nor funny.

Sigh…

(h/t Shakesville)