An advertising campaign for an electrolyte hangover cure formula has raised questions regarding tactics to promote the product, "Big Night Recovery." The series of ads show people that are clearly under the influence, living it up and having a great time. Across their pictures, captions read "In X amount of hours, they'll be ...." The sentence finishes by giving their job descriptions. Big Night Recovery is shown at the bottom of the image, with the words, "Thank God for," implying that if these people take a dose, they'll be good to go for work tomorrow. People are rallying together about the ads and making formal complaints, saying the advertisements are "recklessly irresponsible" and convey the idea that the product is a substitute for time which in the body needs to process alcohol. The claims also say that the the advertisements imply that consuming alcohol just hours before needing to be at a job that requires high physical and mental alertness, is totally okay. That, it is not.
Big Night Recovery fired back by saying, "The message we intended is to try and get people to think about that last drink and what the ramifications may be. It is most certainly not to encourage people to drink more, or act irresponsibly. People will occasionally step over the line with their alcohol consumption, whether through peer group pressure, or spare of the moment. All we can do is apologize that you did not see the advertising in the light that it was intended."
Do you think these ads are inappropriate?
Source: http://www.3aw.com.au/blogs/neil-mitchell-blog/do-you-find-these-ads-inappropriate/20120330-1w22s.html
Though they do get the point across, I think that these ads cross the line a bit. Especially the one on the bottom. This could offend a lot of people who really have been to the hospital for alcohol poisoning or even lost a loved one to alcohol poisoning. They might want to tone down the headlines.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, the bottom one isn't actually by them, it's a spoof trying to highlight the real message this campaign is advocating. It's definitely an inappropriate campaign and I'd venture to say it's highly ineffective in terms of increasing their sales.
ReplyDeleteI think that these ads promote more negative feelings than positive ones. When I saw the ads I didnt even think about the product and whether I would want to use it or not. Instead I was picturing doctors, teachers, lawyers, stock brokers, and people that hold other important occupations getting smashed before they go to work and handle my health or finances. I think the company should change their campaign, in my opinion these ads take away from the product.
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