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As time goes by…

When is a kiss just a kiss?  Not when it is in a Snickers’ Superbowl commercial and Mars Company posts alternative endings on its website for consumers to vote on – especially when the endings are questionably homophobic. An attempt at humor seems to have backfired with some expecting an impact on not only Snickers sales but Mars Company sales as well.  While the ad is situational with two men having a brief kiss, it has kicked off strong feelings.  So strong that the ad has been pulled and the endings have been taken off the site according to AdRants.  But the continuing conversation could be more damaging:

“I am just tired of the Agenda of others and thier imoralities and perversion to be pushed on us,I thought the snikers commerical was disgusting and I will never buy another Mars product again, My support will go somewhere else but it is my right to spend my money where I wish.” Comment to AdRants post by TimeOut

 “It’s just ridiculous that this is become such a big thing. Of course if it were two women then it would have been hailed as the best ad this year. Gotta love double standards. People will eventually realize that humans are sexual beings and that it is not unnatural for men to love men and women to love women. “  Comment to AdRants post by Stef

With the Boston guerilla marketing fiasco last week, people asked “What were they thinking?”   Here we go again.  Funny? Maybe.  Targeted? Maybe. In bad taste? Maybe.  Negative impact on sales? Maybe.  As time goes by we will see the fallout on this one.  Somewhere someone has to be thinking beyond the 30 second spot and the impact of the interaction.  What conversation does it solicit?  What does it do for the brand and the company?  In a connected world, WOM takes over and the message spreads fast – both the good and the bad.  If all acted in the best interests of the company, the brand and the consumer (acting as true fiduciaries), these blow-ups would not happen or at a minimum would happen less often. 

Gary Cohen Gaz

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Advertising
  • Gary Cohen
    The whole point was to generate WOM and buzz I agree. I guarantee you that if the negative impact was known up front, the companies 90% of the time would not have undertaken the approaches taken. SO, my point is, one needs to look to the future impact before stepping in and determining an approach to recommend. Articulate the risks, not just the creative brillance or coolness of whast is being done. Every action has a reaction and while we may not know it all at the outset, one needs to have diversity of mind looking at the possible reactions and no doubt the reults would have been an informed decision on go/no go on the campaigns. Just because a client says yes to creative, does not mean that the job is done and that there is no accountability for the impact it creates.
  • Johnny B
    Your post makes absolutely no sense (to read it I would thing you had never worked in marketing). The whole point of both those efforts was to provoke "WOM" and buzz. It is the creative tactic that backfired.
  • Mark Khan
    I am confused by your train of thought. There's a big difference between the failed Adult Swim "guerilla" campaign (up for three weeks in ten cities and saved only by the over-reaction of the Boston police) and a provocative TV ad from Snickers. Are you basically saying "controversy can backfire"? And "someone has to think beyond the impact of the 30 second spot"? I think the whole point about the 30 second is "impact"... maybe I am missing your point
  • There are a couple things about this that stick out for me.

    First, some people need to lighten up. This is being blown way out of proportion.

    To me, this ad is not the issue. The issue for me is this: of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent in advertising, the only thing that really is gaining traction and discussion is the removal of an ad from circulation. No discussion of "this great ad" or "that great ad" but only discussion about an ad striking up controversy and being removed.

    This, to me is just another nail in the coffin of the 30 second.
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