'Shockvertising' Spreads To Cut Through Media Clutter

http://www.vancouversun.com/Shockvertising+spreads+through+media+clutter/2145422/story.html

Summary:

The car manufacturer, Toyota, has been sued for a $10-million lawsuit by a woman for alleged stalking and harassment. The alleged harassment turned out to be a marketing campaign for Toyota which included various e-mails and videos that left the woman shaking and in tears. This was an example of 'shockvertising', which marketers now need to do to be cutting-edge, and different. According to a Simon Frasier University Professor, Lindsay Meredith, retailers now need to be different to be noticed by consumers because advertising is seen everywhere in today's world of technology. Many well known businesses demonstrated Lindsay's analysis with their use of 'shockvertising'. For example, Boost Mobile depicted pigs eating each other in an attempt to express their dislike for hidden cellphone fees. Also, a woman breastfeeding rotten meat was used by clothier Diesel to sell jeans. MTV also showed public urination to promote voting from young people. In addition, Aylmer advertised an angry chef appearing in people's homes, yelling at them to "try the sauce!". The vice-president, Oliver Gleeson, behind this Aylmer marketing campaign expresses his frustrations of advertising by wondering how a few people can prevent cutting-edge advertisement when 10,000 can enjoy the ad.

Connections:

By targeting the helpless woman described in the article, Toyota demonstrated the use of niche marketing. Niche marketing was a strategy used by specialty shops like Toyota, who sold personalized products and targeted narrow groups of people. Toyota did target a narrow group of people in their advertising campaign, particularly the woman in the article. However, Toyota violated another important factor in retailing and that was freedom. Freedom was being at liberty to do as you wish, as long as it didn't interfere with others doing as they wish. Also, Toyota and the many other businesses mentioned in the article considered demographics which refered to the numerical facts about a population. For example, MTV appealed to the demographics of young people when they advertised public urination to promote voting. Furthermore, Aylmer targeted the demographics of families, especially parents, because pasta sauce appealed to this demographic. These factors were used by several businesses and were further described in the textbook.

Reflection:

I find it to be truly amazing how far a business will go just to advertise their product. I do believe that the Simon Frasier University professor is completely accurate on her interpretation of 'shockvertising' because as a crucial consumer of products, I find certain products more appealing with unique advertisements. However, I feel that Toyota went too far in their campaign and the woman had every right to be upset. Being cutting-edge to attract consumers is a very clever business tactic but it is often very risky, and I think that Toyota took a major risk and suffered for it. Furthermore, I have to agree with the vice-president of Aylmer, Oliver Gleeson, because I don't see the harm in an advertisement if it does not offend anybody and I think a little bit of edge in an advertisement leaves an effective impression. Finally, I believe that 'shockvertising' is a wonderful method of retailing as long as it does not cause anyone harm and is not too inappropriate.