This ad has been creating controversy in the media this past week and for good reason. Originated on the CBC Canada website, the article talked about the condo developer taking the ad down and offering a formal apology as well as the agency that created them offered an apology but the comments on the article are much more interesting than the article itself, I have quoted a few below.
“They are sexist, tasteless and old-fashioned. They will attract the wrong sort of people who think this sort of thing is okay.”
“has anyone ever heard of this popular slogan: SEX SELLS”
“I don’t know about the rest of you… but I’m not wasting any of my 25 year old scotch on a 25 year old Blonde.”
“The ads don’t appeal to me. But you have to be pretty uptight to let these harmless ads bother you. Wil Knoll says he wouldn’t want to be in a room with people who thought it was a great ad. I don’t think I’d want to be in a room with Wil Knoll.”
From Twitter:
@Jaynauta: I bet the goal of that condo ad was to cause I huge uproar. I’m a guy in Regina not looking for a condo and I saw the ad.”
Yes it may have been a bit sexist but people are going to complain regardless of what you do. Remember, advertising that’s targeted at everyone is effective on no one. Timothy Ferris once said “Belief’s, belongings and behaviors, threaten these and you will get a response.” You don’t have to believe me, just look at the statistics so far on this ad:
275 Diggs on Digg.com
367 Comments
203 Recommends
It’s all over Twitter just search “Sexist Calgary”
Finally this is the comment that summed it up for me, I say smart advertising.
TimPaper wrote:
“Oh, lighten up, everyone. The ads were targeted to men – and they appeared in men’s washrooms at nightclubs. They didn’t target children. And they didn’t target women.
All they did was put in an ad in a place where only adult men could see the ads the very thoughts that go through the minds of 99 per cent of men when they’ve got a few drinks in them at a bar.
This is really a tempest in a teapot. You don’t like the ads? Fine, don’t buy a condo. But, please, get a life. All the overly-sensitive new men who complained about this ad managed to do is get a heckuva lot more publicity for the condo developer.
In fact, the cynic in me wonders if the complaint about sexism wasn’t orchestrated by the developer or the marketers of the project specifically to create a media fury and get a lot of free exposure. If they didn’t do it on purpose, well, they were born under a lucky star because I’m sure this nonsense really helped their sales.”
Read the full article at: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2010/03/24/calgary-ads-sexist-condo-midtown-withdrawn.html#socialcomments#ixzz0jWtcGHAb
