Those devil-may-care folks at MMG are at it again for Wódka Vodka. Not content with offending the insignificant demographic that is all the Jews in New York City (see below), they’ve now decided to piss off anyone who believes with any degree of strength that we should be trying, as a society, to phase out prostitution.
Here’s their previous ad.
Of the Hanukkah ad, the New York Times, sounding a bit like your Mom talking about dubstep, explains the strategy:
“The tactic, known as shock advertising, is common among brands that are small or do not spend much on marketing.
Brian Gordon, who runs MMG, the company that designed the [Hanukkah] campaign, denied that it was intended to be shock advertising.
‘We thought people would perceive it as “ha ha quirky,”‘ said Mr Gordon, who was quick to point out that he is Jewish. ‘But people perceived it as offensive, and because of that, we pulled it.’
The thing you need to know about what Gordon says in the preceding quote is that it’s what industry experts call a “lie.”
Of course the Hanukkah ad was designed to be offensive. If nothing else, the new prostitution ad is proof of that.
But the problem with this kind of advertising, it seems to me, is not that it’s offensive. I can certainly imagine ruder things being said or implied about Judaism and prostitution. MMG has basically taken an off-colour bar joke and elevated it to the level of public discourse. In the Friday-night spirit of taking the piss, we’ve all heard — and occasionally no doubt said — much worse. Besides, if you sit around waiting for liquor brands to adopt non-legislated campaigns of positive social change, you’ll be very sober for a very long time.
No, the real error lies in the tactics. These ads cut big fat pie-slices out of Wódka’s potential market and that’s a high price to pay for your 15 minutes on Gawker. Wódka’s new market is now the coveted “mostly male, non-Jewish asshole” segment.
OK, OK — I know what you’re thinking. Vodka drinkers, the lot of them. And if Wódka’s potential market before was nobody, it’s better than nothing. But if you’re going to scorch the Earth, you better be damn sure the territory you’re retreating to has enough women and tungsten to get you through the winter, Napoleon*.
The sheep is good, though.
* I have no idea what I’m talking about.
(Via Katie Kitamura)
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Crossposted from Hawkblocker.com: Ad Reviews by the Prey.
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