Feature: Ads That Flout Guidelines Grab The Headlines
According to the latest Ads That Make The News survey, a banned advertisement for Wrigley’s chewing gum, featuring a dog crawling out of a man’s mouth, grabbed more headlines than any other TV commercial.
The ITC received 600 complaints, making it the most complained about ad ever and it received column inches in eleven national newspapers, a veritable PR coup. The extent of free coverage given to the Wrigley’s ad has led some to suggest that advertisers are deliberately flouting regulations in order to cash in on free publicity.
In the first Ads That Make The News survey for 2003, six of the eleven ads featured made waves in the national press by being banned or courting controversy. These included big brand advertisers such as McDonalds and Walkers Crisps as well as smaller players such as Gales Ales. This would seem to imply that regulators are providing brands with free publicity and that some advertisers are actively seeking to break the guidelines.
The ITC does not believe the majority of advertisers are deliberately ignoring their guidelines, although it does concede that the number of complaints over controversial ads is increasing. A spokeswoman for the ITC commented: “This year there have been a number of ads which courted controversy and the number of complaints is rising. However, not all complaints have been upheld and are partly a result of the huge audiences exposed to the ads and the difficulty of targeting individual age groups.”
There is nothing new about the concept of advertising that is designed specifically to ignite a media storm. However, the increased pressures on marketing budgets squeezed by the ad recession is possibly making this approach increasingly attractive. Martin Loat, managing director of Propeller Communications, which compiles the survey, agrees: “As the most talked about ad of the year so far, Wrigley’s Xcite is a good example of all publicity being good publicity. Although complaints and a ban prompted the national press stories, the coverage itself was not unduly negative and arguably did a great deal to enhance the brand’s stock among its target consumers.”
However, some of the campaigns, such as the Double Velvet Love Your Bum TV and poster ads, did not have their complaints upheld proving that ads can court controversy without breaking guidelines. A spokeswoman for the ITC commented: “We received a number of complaints over the Velvet ad because it was screened during Coronation Street. Complainants objected to the ad because of the use of nudity and the word bum, but we did not feel it broke our guidelines.”
Perhaps the most clear example of the commercial benefits of breaking the regulatory rules surrounding advertising is the claim by Gales Ales on its beer mats that its ale was “healthy”. According to Loat: “Gales Ales should be commended for attracting massive PR exposure for a tiny expenditure. The advertiser correctly judged that its claim on beer mats to provoke “healthy” ale might, like its product, provoke a strong reaction. The brand saw a huge leap in national awareness and its advertising claims were repeated in unpaid for editorial space. Such bravado lies at the heart of the Ads That Make The News ideal.”
Advertisers in the UK are treading a fine line between balancing business interests and cultural norms. As advertisers struggle to reach consumers in the crowded media marketplace, it is often the target audience which is deemed to be the final judge of an ad’s appropriateness, not the regulators.