Is a pole dancing Mum in addiction patches the most lucrative way to sell Nando’s?
In a world where media dollars are now saturated with non-smoking messages, and nicotine patches are as competitive as Coke and Pepsi, where do Peri-Peri cravings fit in?
Are Nando’s patches being used as a metaphor to help us give up their menu?
One could not be blamed for already feeling confused about the message.
In this world where we apparently lack such self-control, that food advertising in children’s viewing time is to banished, it doesn't seem unlikely.
Though it is slighly odd that a Fast Food chain is advocating that you need patches plastered to your butt, until you can give up your cravings.
Are Marketers now so desperate to achieve cut-through and create ‘buzz’ that they are being convinced that any news is good news?
Well if negative PR and outrage is seen as a positive side effect of a TV campaign, perhaps Nando’s are doing a great job.
Even members of the advertising industry are eschewing such attempts to be "creative." An industry magazine article named, "Pick or Pan" chose to express their feelings under the heading of Pan: " …we were left in a state resembling cold turkey after watching this… at best this is confusing…why do her family all look so pleased with themselves when the matriarch of the family is behaving like she needs institutional care?"
The Women’s Forum of Australia is planning to appeal to MPs to overhaul the Advertising Standards Board of Australia.
Women's Forum Australia will launch a campaign to have the Advertising Standards Board overhauled on the grounds that its decisions do not reflect wider community standards, particularly on the exploitation of women.
The Australian Standards Board does not see the ad in the same way.
Joining the ranks of other "most complained" about ads include the Mentos Nipple ad, where a man’s nipples begin growing as he chews on gum.
The ad for Mentos Ice Chewing Gum attracted more than 220 complaints from members of the public, largely about the man’s erect and elongated nipples. It showed various scenes in which he uses his nipples to catch a Frisbee, to hang his sunglasses on, to turn discs on a DJ’s turntable, and to press a button in a lift.
The Advertising Standards Board dismissed the complaints against the ad at its meeting in October 2006, deciding that it did not contain "inappropriate sexual, nude or discriminating" material.
Despite this material being present in the Nando’s "nude, female Pole Dancer" ad, it apparently is not seen as inappropriate.
Perhaps not inappropriate for a sophisticated art house cinema audience, who would appreciate the witty sub plot and post-modern social commentary that underlies this mock-advertising genre, with a double pike and twist.
Perhaps middle suburban Australia doesn’t share the same sensibilities. Nor should an advertiser expect them to.
There is a line between ‘pushing the boundaries’ and outright offending or insulting a valid segment of the population. Even if they are not your ‘core audience’.
The deliberately over-the-top Sam Keckovich ‘Lamb’ campaign deliberately poked fun at vegetarians, amongst others.
Meat-eaters thought it was funny, and done in a lighthearted, fun way.
Moreover, the Client could be sure that vilifying this particular audience wouldn’t cost them a single lamb chop in sales.
So where do you draw the line with satire or fantasy?
Recently, the Advertising Standards Board made a decision to pull an ad in which a girl is taken by aliens, in the context of a fantasyland, to receive a Happy Meal. They rightly responded to the hundreds of complaints concerned parents made about "stranger-danger".
Therefore, the board does have a standard.
Nevertheless, not about pole-dancing women?
Effective advertising gets noticed for the right reasons. It creates impact that is not alienating to half the population.
Effective advertising does not need to resort to Dodo style sex-timonials to appeal to the most base intellect, or lowest common denominator. The one below the belt.
Advertising that truly works in the long term leaves the world a better place, genuinely makes humanity a kind gesture, and endears your brand in the hearts of consumers.
It is an unfortunate fact that within Ad Agency walls, in the creative departments, 78% of the workforce is male, and 94% of the bosses of creative departments are men.
A mere 6% of women get to decide what work gets presented to the Marketiers/Clients, and what work should be banished to the "not right" pile.
Perhaps if there were a greater representation of women at the top being asked to contribute to the creative consciousness (and conscience) of advertising, then less pole dancing and erect nipples, and more self-esteem for little girls, would be visible on the advertising landscape.
