ASA Raps Fox Over Guerrilla Marketing
The ASA has upheld complaints against a spoof leafleting campaign for the Twentieth Century Fox film, Super Troopers.
The leaflets, which were left on car windscreens, resembled parking tickets and stated: “Penalty charge notice. Broken lizard’s Super Troopers. Warning you are summoned to appear on November 15 at a cinema near you.”
Complainants objected that the leaflets could unduly distress recipients because they looked like genuine penalty notices.
The advertisers claimed that they had tried to ensure that the leaflets did not resemble genuine penalty notices and that they did not imply that they had been issued by the proper authorities. They also asserted that the ads were left on cars that were parked in cinemas where the film was to be shown.
The authority felt that although recipients would probably realise on closer reading that the leaflet was a spoof, their initial thought was likely to be that they had been given a parking ticket. The Authority concluded that the leaflet was likely to cause undue distress to recipients and warned the advertisers not to use a similar approach in the future.
Shock tactics and guerrilla marketing are becoming an increasingly popular way for advertisers to attract the attention of consumers. The ASA recently received a string of complaints following the publication of an ad featuring a model with her pubic hair shaved into Gucci’s trademark “G” symbol (see Vogue Sparks Controversy With Gucci Ad).
There is nothing new in the concept of creating ads that court controversy and most marketers admit that effectiveness and ethics are often poles apart. One such marketer commented: “Simply wait until your ad run is coming to an end, then write a few letters to the ITC or the ASA complaining about it, get the ad banned and enjoy the PR that follows. You can also place the banned ad on the web.”
ASA: 020 7580 5555 www.asa.org.uk
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