Real You: Time for another reality check in advertising
Posted on | April 17, 2009 | No Comments
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I find quite often when I sit down to tackle my weekly column for Reaching Women Daily, that I have a nagging ad that forces me to rant. I’m sort of a Bob Garfield in the Reaching Women Daily community. Can’t help it, it’s just that I’m surrounded by ads and sometimes they bug me. This week, I have two.
Marshall’s. They call it “shopportunity” when department stores overbuy or designers overproduce merchandise and Marshall’s sells it to consumers on the cheap. I get it. Usually I like the spots, and the online brand is a great extension of the offline retailer. BUT the latest spot – “Clothing Optional” – depicts a woman entrepreneur who has set up a fabulous shoe store, and is dreaming of her opening night, when a nudist colony descends on the shop because of the name she’s selected. The voice over, eerily done by the woman who is the dead narrator of Desperate Housewives, mocks the business owner as police come and close down her store and we’re told she needs to rethink her store’s name.
Marketing to women about a deal on shoes made at the expense of a big department store is one thing; marketing to women about a deal on shoes at the expense of a entrepreneur’s dream is heartless.
And I know, the reps told all the morning show anchors that it’s all for fun, but using one the most popular kids’ cartoon characters SpongeBob and applying square pants to sexy dancers to sell Burger King’s kids meals is wrong. Sure, it’s fun for the boys at the ad agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky (all 4 creative directors are men, so is the art director and the copywriter ), and Burger King is all about marketing to 18 year old guys, and that’s fine. Works for Carl’s Jr, too. But when you’re marketing kids meals, stay out of the sex appeal game or most moms who control the purchase of kids meals will just think you’re creepy. All of you.
And those are my rants for the week. Next time, I’ll find some great advertising, promise.
Kaira Rouda isn’t that much of a critic, typically, but I do have to call ’em as I see ’em. On the positive side, the sun is shining, my bird Buddy is singing and anything is possible. Sign up for my tip of the week and I’ll do my best to inspire you!
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