Politically incorrect ads pulled

Volkswagon and GM are both falling into the PC catagory this past week. Both have pulled ads after Suicide Prevention groups have complained. One featured a man about to jump from a building but decides not to after someone on the ground tells him that 3 models of VW's are under 17K. The other one features an assembly line robot who dreams of losing his job and decides to jump off a bridge. Granted good marketing makes ads relatable, but is this taking it too far? Are we too sensitive? Or is there a right to be offended? Where does marketing draw the line between pushing the envelope and crossing the line? Taking risks is part of what makes marketing successful. When you stand out from the crowd and make a statement.

Which do you think these ads are? Did VW and GM push the envelope, or cross the line?

Give us your thoughts.

Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day. We marketers are a synical bunch sometimes because our job is to find a way to make selling (insert product here) easier. In today's case, our job is to make selling romance and love profitable. If you are a florist or make chocolate or in the greeting card business, you probably love this day. However, sometimes, the simplist of things can make the greatest impact. Send a text message to your sweetie, it's cheap, personal, and let's him/her know you are thinking of them. Imedia Connection says that a recent survey showed that 59% of active daters use text messaging to communicate with their dates and that 28% use text messaging to flirt.

The question for today is are you going to have a traditional candy and flowers Valentine's Day or are you taking Valentine's Day into Cyberspace with text messaging or ecards.

We would love to hear your thoughts and will post results on our website.

The Super Bowl Does It Again!!!

Marketing at it's peak!

How many of us out there waited for these commercials? I am not a big football fan, my very favorite part about the Superbowl IS the commercials, this one below was definately one of my favorites!

This was another funny one, it is definately life imitating life! I'm just glad that KFed has a sense of humor about himself!

These are just two of my personal favorites, I'd love to hear about yours! Please let me know if you were completed surprised with the snickers commercial... you know the one... the two guys eating it at both ends and then decide to rip off their chest hair to go back to their manly roots!?

I want to hear your opinions on the worst commercials, who do you think wasted the most money?

When Marketing Backfires

Has Marketing finally gone too far? Ever heard of Aqua Tenn Hunger Force? Me neither until yesterday. Now the whole world is talking about it. So, is the old adage that no publicity bad publicity a good one? Did the marketing backfire only to create a much more potent message? Or did marketing step over the line with this one? First, I think that the placing of anything electronic and small randomly next to hospitals and office buildings, these days is akin to leaving ones backpack unattended at the airport. Someone had to have known that this would be a bad idea. It might have actually worked as a marketing gimick, if it had been part of an overall larger campaign. One where people would know what the symbols meant. Also, any marketing capmaign that actually paralyzes a city shutting down roads, and evacuating buildings is never a good thing. Although the actual marketing did nothing but anger people and get two people in jail, I am sure that the aftermath has acheived exactly what was hoped. Otherwise, you wouldn't be reading this.
Comment on your thoughts and what you think should happen now.