Irresponsible Ads

Sometimes advertisers lose sight of how much impact their work can have on society, they get lost in the competition or in the ugly jokes, or just in plain irresponsibility. This is a very sad phenomenon because advertising can have the power to help the world if it is done in a responsible way, but it is ads like these that we need to prevent from happening in the future.

Irresponsible:

This ad, by Venables, Bell & Partners, San Francisco, references the big competition between Audi and BMW. These two companies have recently been in a sort of Ad War, with the purposes of their advertisements being to appear better and put down the other. Both companies participated in putting down the other in a series of ads, taking the focus off the benefits of the cars and placing it on the competition. I think this type of advertising is less effective and just simply gets annoying. It seems like they should be trying to think of something creative to really put down the competition without directly saying "bmw stinks." Plus, it isn't just about putting down the competition. It should be more about building your brand.




This ad, by BBH in the US, is a good example of an ad that can be taken in an offensive way, and can be seen as irresponsible. One of the things that can be seen as irresponsible in this ad is the attitude about women. This ad makes it seem like women, billions of women, would go running towards a guy that smells good. Some might ask, are women really that shallow? Of course the aim of "The Axe Effect" campaign is the sexuality, but do women have to be portrated this way? Also, there are tons of women running around in bikini's. Some may see this as inappropriate for public television, and again for the portrayal of women. Although this campaign is based on the idea of sexuality, these ads can be seen as offensive and inappropriate.

When I saw this ad for the Adult Survivors of Child Abuse, by TBWA Australia, I was shocked. I did not think this was an appropriate way of addressing the issue of child abuse. I understand they wanted to shock the viewers and show that it isn't easy forgetting about child abuse, but it seems like they turned it into a joke even with the line of text at the end. There is no sympathy, there is no seriousness, and it just does not seem appropriate.