Red Bull finds out it's still "too soon" to make Titanic jokes in ads

The Telegraph

A couple of days ago, AT&T and other brands took a lot of flack online for using the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as subject matter for advertising and social media promotions. "Still too soon," is the general response.

But what about something that happened more than a century ago? Red Bull probably thought that the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic was fair game for a laugh. Sure, more than 1500 people died that night. But surely with the passing of time, and survivors, this one is fair game for a gag?

Apparently not. The Telegraph reports that Britain's Advertising Standards Authority has received 42 complaints about the ad, calling it "tasteless" and "offensive" (although they haven't yet launched any action against it). Clifford Ismay, a relative of Titanic owner Joseph Bruce Ismay, called it "despicable."

Howard Nelson, founder of The Titanic Heritage Trust, went into detail:

"It is very offensive and just disrespectful. We appreciate there will be commercial ventures involving the Titanic which we say is fine - as long as it is in good taste and respectful. 

This is not. 

There is a difference between making a joke and this. I get jokes all the time about icebergs and the like, taking the mick out of my interest in the Titanic, but that is banter. This is blatantly offensive because it is taking the mick out of the people who have passed away. 

It would be the same if someone did something similar about 9/11 - there would be an uproar. This is no different."

Is it no different? I've grown up with the Titanic as more of a symbol than as a real event, since it's such an icon in popular culture. People have been making Titanic jokes, and using the ship's sinking as a clichéd metaphor, for generations. I can understand why Red Bull didn't anticipate the backlash.

But perhaps the biggest difference between the Titanic and horrors such as 9/11 or the Holocaust is that the ship's sinking was a tragedy while terrorism and genocide are something much worse. To joke about the latter isn't just to joke about death, but to make light of the human evils that deliberately caused those deaths. That's the difference.

Not to say that the Red Bull ad is tasteful, mind you.

But in my opinion it's not as bad as what The Onion was implying with their horrifying satire of opportunistic 9/11 ads:

Feels different, doesn't it?

Life imitates The Onion (once again)

First, here's The Onion:


Tampa Bay Gay Prostitutes Gearing Up For Flood Of Closeted Republicans

Ha ha ha...

Except it's sort-of actually true. Here's an actual promotional offer from a Tampa Bay bathhouse, Ybor Resort & Spa:

Hey, at least they won't have to pay for it.

The old "loud homophobes are obviously just closeted" trope would feel like homophobia itself, if it weren't the actual gay community who keep bringing it up. And if it didn't end up proving itself so damn often.

The Onion deserves a Pulitzer

I love The Onion. You love The Onion. Ricky Gervais loves The Onion.



So obviously they deserve a prestigious Pulitzer Prize for lasting 1000 issues.

Hell, even this guy I've never heard of, who actually won a Pulitzer, thinks so:



The Onion also believes it deserves journalism's top honour, and they have America behind them:



Sign the petition. And save journalism.

"Marlboro Earth" cigarettes will save the planet

You've got to love The Onion. Even after years of coming up with new satire on a weekly basis, they still manage to rock out something like this:

Click to enlarge.

People are the greatest environmental threat to the planet, so any product that shortens their lifespans has a direct positive impact on ecology. It's greenwashing logic at work, and not that far off from reality:

Although industry research indicates people do offer some secondary benefits to the planet, such as recycling programs and wind power generators, studies have concluded these efforts fail to offset the disastrous potential of humanity.

According to Philip Morris, Marlboro Earths are the first green product to address that threat head-on.

"Wildlife habitat encroachment, climate change, the exploitation of precious natural resources—they can all become a thing of the past," said James Freedman, a member of the marketing team tasked with branding the new product. "Smoke these cool, clean Marlboro Earths every chance you get, and you'll reduce your carbon footprint to zero in no time."

Added Freedman, "Plus, you'll look really sophisticated and glamorous while doing it."

Read the full article here.

Tanning is still the new smoking

I called it last year, and stand by it: indoor tanning is on its way out. First, the whole Guido/Jersey Shore meme equated indoor tanning with being a douche. Then cancer authorities started a social marketing war against what they saw as an unhealthy practice. Then legislators got involved.

At this point, you might as well close up your tanning shop. The viral internet has cast final judgement on the orange look as an aesthetic - whether acquired from sun, bed or spray.

Trending this week:

Some new and highly-sharable video content from The Onion:

 

Some poor anonymous girl becomes the movement's poster child on BuzzFeed:

Via The Brain.

 Ouch. But at least she's among good company.

Or is she?

The Onion makes me cry

...but only because I'm laughing so hard.

If you read this blog regularly, you know how I feel about PeTA's publicity stunts, and how they exploit young women. (I often refer to them as "Protesters Exposing T & A")

But leave it to The Onion to bring the issue to a whole new level:


Advocacy Group Decries PETA's Inhumane Treatment Of Women

Some of the images and language are not for the prudish. But it's solid gold, even at its most uncomfortable:

"Proof of an upcoming ad campaign that was so sexist and shallow,
it was hard to believe it could happen in a civilized nation."

This is satire at its best, when it bites so hard it leaves a mark. Kudos.

MADD takes a hard left towards denormalization

Adrants yesterday posted some new ads for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, created by TBWA Toronto.

Here's one:



It's funny. It's thought-provoking. And it's a complete change of course for an organization that traditionally uses shock and guilt to hammer home the anti-drinking and driving message:



So, what happened? Obviously, someone at MADD has decided to give "Denormalization" a try.

A tactic in anti-smoking campaigns for decades, denormalization campaigns seek to make previously tolerated behaviours socically unacceptable by exposing them to ridicule or redefining them as just plain dumb.

Let's look at another of MADD's new approach:



The beauty of these ads is not just in the writing, but the casting. These guys look like lifelong drunkards, the dumbass who sits next to you at the bar, tells secondhand stories, then leaves you wondering how he's getting home.



(It's a shame they didn't use the URL, drivebackroads.ca, for some additional viral outreach. It's currently parked on godaddy.)

One of the principals behind denormalization is social shaming through satire. While it is embraced by many current social marketing campaigns, the practice is as old as western civilization. From Greek and Roman playwrights and poets, to Jonathan Swift, to The Onion, hilarious and often brutal satire has been a popular tactic for pushing social self-awareness — and ultimately change.



But will it get through the the thick heads of the hardcore drunk drivers? Probably not. But that's not the point.

According to our longtime client and office neighbour, The Traffic Injury Research Foundation, the repeat offenders need to be dealt with in a more scientific way, through well-informed policies and legislation. That's the other aspect of social change. (Think of how workplace smoking bans almost eliminated indoor social smoking in a very short time, after years of social marketing had had little impact on youth.)

The purpose of satire, or denormalization, isn't to make the offenders see the error of their ways. It's intended to emphasize the unacceptability of their behaviour to people who might otherwise be complacent about it. When we all join in to laugh at the buffoon, then the real power of social shaming comes into play. You might even report them, as the call-to-action asks.

Good campaign. I hope MADD keeps up this more sophisticated approach in their social marketing.

Advertising in the post-racist era

Yeah, I know we're not there yet. Racism is alive and well all over the world. But I'm still seeing signs of an evolved view of our differences. This viral ad is one of them:



Created by video commandos Rhett and Link, this ad is for real. And it's awesome. I'll tell you why.

My personal ideal regarding racism is that within my lifetime it will be normal to ignore the physical differences between people that we call "race" (as opposed to cultural differences, which are a whole other ball of wax). The categories we have put people into since colonial times are useless and arbitrary. It's time to move on.

But coming to the end of an extremely racist 500 years or so, we can't just pretend the problem isn't there. That's where satire comes in.

For example, way back in 2000, the satirical newspaper/web site The Onion ran a hilarious article titled "Black Guy Photoshopped In". It was funny because this kind of thing really happens. In fact, around the same time the University of Wisconsin at Madison was caught doing exactly that:



This issue is also close to my heart as a Creative Director who works on lots of government and other "politically correct" accounts. Casting models and actors for ads is one of the most uncomfortable things we do, because we spend hours planning out the visible ethnic makeup of people. As my colleague Christopher commented, "we spend so much time thinking about the very thing we don't think we should be thinking about".

You can see some of our solutions in our ads. For example, for Public Safety Canada, we portrayed a multigenerational family with a black mom, white dad, black son, and white grandma. While this was a contrived scenario, what made me feel good about it was that nobody seemed to notice the diversity. That's exactly what we were aiming for. (The fireman has an Asian look, too, in case you didn't notice.)

Another one is our HRSDC "baby" commercial for federal education savings plans. When we had to provide the casting director with notes for ethnicity, we said "Mediterranean". The idea was that if we got a bunch of olive-skinned, ethnically ambiguous actors who looked like a family, we were avoiding the problem of identifying a single nationality. For your reference, mom is Egyptian, the baby is French Canadian, and he grows up Italian. Will wonders never cease! Once again, neither focus groups nor public audiences commented on ethnicity. Considering that Toronto groups are infamous for critiquing the diversity of illustrated storyboards, this was a real win.

Diversity is important, and our job as advertisers is to normalize a more diverse Canada without looking fake. To remind ourselves to be conscious of the fine line we tread (and to avoid Onioning ourselves like UWM did) I created this demotivational poster for my office: