Whoever decided to run the Heinz mayo ad in Britain was completely ignorant, and the record number of complaints from the male same-sex kiss, and calling one of the men "mum," shows how badly the company was off by using this type of material. They had to know they were going to create a firestorm of controversy by doing it, and they did.
While it's obvious the content used would cause a huge backlash, but not only because of the content, but also because people are tired of these types of social situations being thrust upon them by those with hidden agendas.
The majority of people don't want to be preached to with advertisements, they want to know what it is the product or service offers them. To include homosexual males kissing in an ad takes away completely from the product being offered. It makes no marketing sense to do this, other than that it wasn't done for marketing, but an attempt to influence the thinking of people. It didn't work!
"It is our policy to listen to consumers. We recognise that some consumers raised concerns over the content of the ad and this prompted our decision to withdraw it," said Nigel Dickie, director of corporate affairs for Heinz UK.
Now that Heinz had to pull the ad, they are in a no win situation. People are angry for them putting up in the first place, and now people are angry for them pulling it. Are marketers becoming this stupid that they didn't see this coming?
Companies and ad agencies need to quit the social commentary in their ads, and show interesting and compelling reasons why we should use their products.
It's one thing to show what a company stands for through branding efforts, it's another thing to market a product to the public. When marketing a product we need to keep on target and focus, not meander off into attempts to influence the thinking of the public.
The major reason this is true, is the news is filled with this type of stuff, and it's always one step from overload for people. To bring social issues into advertising of products, for the most part is a mistake, especially the type the is sure to offend the great majority of people. Heinz learned this the hard way, and now has made nobody happy with their efforts.
I think you are reading too much into the advert.
It was a very poor example of an advert, an offering from a new agency that is now likely to be replaced, and it missed the mark completely.
If that was a 'Gay Kiss' then I am the pope.
It was a cartoon kiss, no more and no less, between some weird life form drafted in as "mum" and a harassed dad. Watch it properly! It was a caricature.
That doesn't mean it was a good advert. It was very poor. And it was a bad decision to accept it from the agency and run it. No, not because of pretty much anything you've written here, but becaise it was a plain trashy advert.
But yanking it off air because 200 stupid people thought it was a gay kiss and thus offensive... That was a worse decision. THAT has caused the whole rukus.
Posted by: Tim Trent | June 26, 2008 4:49 PM | Permalink to Comment