So this past Friday TravisFckr comes and shows me something... um... weird. Yeah. Weird. That is the only thing that can actually describe what I saw. It was a link to a catalog website. You might be thinking... what the hell can be weird about a catalog, right?
Ok. Let's see how I write this.
First of all. I won't put the link to it here. In fact, I won't even tell you what the brand's name is. You gotta figure this one for yourselves. All I will say is that the link is somewhere in the Adverbox.com website. If you find it, it's your damn fault if you get offended. This is also a great moment to tell you, in case shit, I TOLD YOU SO.
Let me give you the basics. The catalog is made with porn. Hard core porn. They have mini movies of people having sex and you can click in some parts of it and see how much is a Tshirt or a dress. I AM NOT KIDDING. The guy is giving it to the girl and, bingo, click here to find out how much are the jeans, by the way.
Why am I writing about this? Well, because to me, it doesn't make any sense. This is a great example of advertising gone wrong. Do the clothes appeal to a sex audience, like Porn Star clothing? Nope. Are they in any way shape or form related to anything adult? Nope. It is just sporstwear. Period. Nothing fancy, nothing different from the rest. And they decided to make their website famous by doing this shit. And shit is the correct word, since it is gratuitous and without merit.
How low can advertising agencies sink? Just put naked people in there, the creative director might have said. We'll have lots of clicks! Um. Sure! What about putting a nice website design with cool concepts? Oh no. Screw that. Pun intended.
In all my years doing this crappy job I have never been ashamed of what I do or what my peers do. I have seen crappy layouts, concepts... a million times over. But this makes me sad and really upset. To think that with porn you can maybe sell a couple of shirts means that you didn't think that... hard? Pun intended.
This brand of clothing is truly a good example of why advertising sucks. Period.
And for you out there who think that this is the greatest idea since sliced bread, all I can say is: Happy wackoff. You suck.
Pun intended. Again.
2 comments:
Sad but true, some people want a whiff of the action. And hey, how else are people going to sell clothes? by making a quality product? You have to be kidding I'm sure.
Calvin Klein & Brooke Shields. Coors Light and the Twins. Diesel Jeans in the late 90s... Unfortunately, advertising history is full of sex, some subtle and discreet, some direct and in-your-face.
Sex has been used to hawk every imaginable product on the market. And I mean everything, regardless of whether it makes sense or not. The fact is, sex is a sure seller. If nothing else works to convey a message, use sex. Like Colt 45, it works every time.
Is it a cheap cop out? Yes. Is it an unimaginative plan? Yes. Are we to balme? Yes. But we must also recognize that sex is the lowest common denominator, and when you speak to an audience that doesn't demand much from their surroundings, you go with what works. In all its forms, sex sells.
And let's not forget that we are nothing but advertising whores that are subject to the demands of the client and our audience, no matter how baseless and irrational their demands are. Responsible advertising is a joke. Like we said before, we're not curing cancer, we're just selling shit by any means necessary.
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