Another outdoor from a spirit brand in a lower-income neighborhood. What a shock. Strange, the few times I took the family to Cape Cod on vacation, I never saw any outdoor signs in Hyannis with Ted Kennedy hawking Gordon’s Gin.
Why is that?
I have no problem with using John Leguizamo in any ad. I love his work. You have only to see his HBO specials or movies to know that the dude has skillz. And, advertising to your customer base using someone of the same background or ethnicity is hardly new.
But, how obvious, how easy was it to place this where they did: In this case, a lower-income Hispanic neighborhood. The obvious lack of placement of these outdoor signs anywhere but in urban settings speaks volumes of the brand’s intent: Let’s get them drunk, after all, they’re our best customer, right?
If I had a better shot, you’d see the rest of the street and some pretty beat-down buildings. Not to mention what appeared to be a temporary carwash leaning so far to the left I swear it was going to fall on my car. What an excellent media buy by the agency. Just excellent!
Also worth noting is the 12-point disclaimer on the lower left. The one about drinking responsibly that you would never see driving by at even 20 mph. Hey Hennessey - how about placing responsibly?
Charles Barkley once said he wasn’t a role-model, and that he wasn’t here to raise my kids. Ok, fair enough. But don’t celebrities still have a responsibility to know where their image will be used, and the stereotype it reinforces when it’s this blatant?
I was going to post this some time back, but copyranter put up an article on race in advertising the same day and I didn’t want this treading on that. It’s still a topic that needs discussing–not ignoring. Hadji Williams, a Chicago creative, also writes about this in his book which I’m tearing through now, Knock the Hustle.
I’ve worked in a few of these so-called specialty/multi-cultural/ethnic agencies a few years back. But few brands, if any, will acknowledge what’s really at play here. The “specialty” agency will do this kind of work because, while a brand wants to get all the market share it can, it really doesn’t want to be associated with, you know, a “certain type of people.” Brands will say “That’s what our partner agency is for.”
You mean the partner you don’t even think enough of to have in the same building with you?
Tags: advertising, brands
6 comments:
Bill:
So, just wondering, what were you doing there?
On a similar note, you drive through some of the poorer neighborhoods in D.C. and you see lousy streets, lousy housing, nothing green for blocks... but you see fast food joints. The absolute worst of the worst stuff to put in your body. Simply a variation of the "let’s get them drunk, after all, they’re our best customer, right?" you mentioned.
It was near an area where a friend lives. I had seen that outdoor in another location and went back to shoot it, but it was covered up with a different sign. However, I ended up going down another road and caught another that had been placed.
wow. What a coincidence! UT has research on this on their website http://www.utexas.edu
and at http://www.utexas.edu/features/2006/health/
Smart people think alike.
I don’t know about smart David, but maybe it’s something for you to pick up on as you enter the biz. You start thinking more and more about where the work you do really ends up and what the real intent of the work is.
It’s a real paradox.
Advertisers ultimately have to reach their audiences where they live.
But in the case of minorities, especially low-income minorities, the professional is always attached to the political — and the political means racial.
On a professional level, it’s no less disturbing than pushing cigarettes and liquor on minors via sophisticated under-the-radar tactics. From a political standpoint, it’s unfortunate that certain products seem to be pushed on minority communities. But is that the fault of an advertiser or society as a whole?
As for the advertising industry’s segregation, well, that’s an entirely different story.
Pardon the semi-plug, but everyone is invited to visit multicultclassics.blogspot.com — click on the profile and My Web Page for a brief overview.
I agree hj, but I think the public as a whole really could care less about fixing the situation. I put it on the celebs that keep endorsing it.
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