23 February 2009

+ Jake, Paul And Nat Are Wrong

It's not often I disagree with then Gen Y Marketing Podcast boys, but today I have to. Here's the campaign in question...


I think this is amazing. Jake, Paul and Nat don't agree.

Take into account the most important factor here, the objective of the campaign. It's not targeting victims, or even offenders. It's for everyone else. The purpose of this campaign is to raise awareness. Being controversial does that. But more so, if you feel put off by this campaign, that's exactly how you should feel. You should be disgusted by sexual abuse, and this ad portrays that perfectly.

Finally, a Pick of B&T's that I agree with.

Thoughts?
Posted by Zac Martin at 3:31 PM

18 comments:

  1. In a way, I think it's rather disgusting way to talk about such a subject, it sort of feels like a AMI advertisement for downstairs correction.

    It puts too much humour on something that should be dealt with sensitivity and slightly serious tones. I personally prefer the confronting advert by some british agency in People Smuggling and Prostitution, which is really quite abrupt and sort of has a lasting effect, it communicates it's message.

    This advert, in my opinion, doesn't really communicate just how serious a problem this issue is.
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  2. I'm a pretty open minded person but this does go a little far for me Zac. I buy your reminder about the objective and as such we have to have a different expectation but I worry that this makes me feel disgusted with the people who put it together (not literally you realise) rather than disgusted with the perpetrators.
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  3. hmmm, i agree it's far too humourous for what it's supposed to be portraying.

    This topic needs to be talked about openly and honestly for the brutal act that it is even if that means uncomfortable viewing and tugging at the heart strings which this ad skips over quite easily...
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  4. The thing that makes me think this ad is good is because it doesn’t pull on the heart strings.

    If you are abused then I am assuming that an ad that pulls on your heart strings won’t hit the mark. You have probably grown up thinking it is something kept quite and maybe even normal.

    So what if an ad pulls on our heart strings? What are you going to do that you shouldn’t have done already if you new some abuse was occurring.

    Disgusting adults are not going to change their ways. There si something seriously wrong in their wiring.

    Either we teach people the signs to look for or we encourage the kids to speak up. This ad takes the latter approach by telling them that abuse is not normal.

    Has anyone heard the radio ad from the same campaign where a kid talks about being bashed by his Dad and that’s why eh can run fast during footy?
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  5. It's not trying to be humorous. It's seeking attention for a cause that all too often would go unspoken of. i think it does a fantastic job of slowly easing the audience into the issue...you get to the end and the seriousness has crept up on you enough to silence your thoughts. This silence is impact.

    If the creators were to put something more hardcore, more real in front of us, it would be too confronting to watch and take in. I think that had they gone for that approach the audience would be left feeling helpless and too far removed from the issue to feel like it was real or mattered at all.

    It might be disgusting, but you try telling that to a victim of abuse. You try telling a victim that their issue is just too controversial and disgusting to publicise or treat it - some might label, as trivially. i'd like to see how a victim actually reacts to this ad.

    Well done.
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  6. I'm so glad someone posted this.

    When I first saw this (last week) I couldn't get my head around it. I don't think I could believe that they were making the joke they were making so I looked the ad up on YouTube to watch it again. My first reaction was 'oh dear, that's off point'. Then I went to dinner and told some friends about this bad ad I saw on TV about sexual abuse.

    My personal, emotional reaction was 'distasteful'. Did the ad work on me? Well, I watched it twice, told friends about it and discussed it on a blog so you might conclude that it fulfilled its objective of raising awareness, but I disagree. You could say well, people are discussing it and it got a reaction so it raised awareness but honestly, it doesn’t make me more concerned about sexual abuse and I didn’t go out and donate money to a fund or support group as a result. All I was left with was a feeling of distaste which I expressed in some chatter about a bad ad, not about the issue itself. Is that good advertising? I don’t think so.
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  7. @ Renee Creer

    Don't you now have a distaste for the ad, which has a strong assassination with sexual abuse?

    On a side note, I should do more random talk about campaigns...
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  8. Im not sure that it does raise awareness dude.

    I'm not convinced that by making a controversial ad you instantly raises awareness of a subject, in fact quite the opposite. Of those I have spoken to who have seen the ad the actual subject of child abuse rates barely a mention (as seen in the above comments), the majority of the discussion centers around if the ad was in bad taste. If "the message" is over shadowed by the controversy is that really a success?
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  9. I have spoken to a lot of people who were so disturbed by the ad they recall very little from it - they switch off. However, if it was humorous and engaging (this can still be controversial) the message might have got through.
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  10. Re your question, my distaste is for the concept and execution of the ad. This distaste overshadows the issue of sexual abuse.
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  11. So Paul, Nat and I were correct and Zac was wrong. I feel vindicated :)
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  12. Nah, Zac's right.

    They presented the issue in an entirely unexpected light that catches the audience off-guard. It's memorable, and remarkable. Though as Nudge mentioned, it may be both of these due to its controversial nature.

    Thanks for bringing the ad to my attention!
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  13. Interesting discussion, Zac.

    My view, for what it is worth, is that we want to create advertising that creates or modifies behaviour. We want to produce an action and an outcome. And while awareness is part of that process, this ad for me, while memorable, misses the mark.

    That means that I am agreeing with Daniel. We don't want people saying "oh that's disgusting", we want people acting on the impulse "I won't let that happen".
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  14. Or more to the point- this advertising needs to give people something to do about it.
    - donate to a cause
    - how to notice if this is happening
    - what to do about it

    All too often it's hushed and no-one speaks of it outside the family.
    It's this concept we need to confront and change
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  15. @ Gavin & Anonymous

    I completely agree and I hope this is only part of the campaign with more "take an action" to follow.
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  16. I don't think this ad is humorous at all. If you were sitting there in you're room you'd feel extremely akward about it, you certainly wouldn't be laughing, which is exactly how I felt watching it.

    I'm just not sure what exactly it's trying to achieve...
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  17. @ Rick

    It's not intended to be humorous, and the fact you'd feel awkward about it is exactly what you're meant to feel!
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  18. I'm torn with this one. Daniel's right, the emotional card might not be the way to go.

    But if you were an abusee watching this, you're not sure whether what's been happening is right or wrong and you see people talking about it as if nothing is wrong... does it blur the lines and give the wrong message?

    Although on the other hand...would it encourage people to talk?

    Sure, it's targeted at the public, but it will be seen by abusers and victims too.
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