Estimates say consumers in the U.S. are exposed to between 4,000 and 10,000 brand messages…per day. From a creative standpoint, it is extremely difficult to come up with concepts that grab attention, inform, and are compelling. It’s okay to push the envelope, but you have to take into context your brand and industry. Go ahead and think out of the box, but don’t go out of your mind. It’s not okay to be tone deaf or downright offensive. Recent efforts from Chase and ancestry.com were exactly that.
Dumb And Dumber
Chase recently sent this tweet out…it didn’t go over so well.
Our agency works with several financial institutions. We would never propose something like this to any of them. Brands that make burgers can be snarky, but even then the attitude is typically directed at a competitor. Think about the gall it takes to sarcastically criticize a consumer who may be living paycheck to paycheck. In addition, let’s not forget that Chase received a $25-billion bailout from taxpayers less than a decade ago. The tweet, not surprisingly, was met with immediate disdain. Chase deleted it and acknowledged the feedback.
That Was Dumb – This Is Far Worse
Ancestry.com pulled a recent ad titled, “Inseparable.” It was set in the 1800s. A white man is attempting to convince a black woman to run away with him. It romanticizes the reasons many blacks have white ancestry; slavery and rape. Ancestry.com pulled the ad from television and YouTube. A spokesperson refused to reveal how many people of color were involved in making the ad. If there weren’t any, or any with veto power, was the ad even tested in front of a black audience? Frankly, that really shouldn’t matter. It’s not really that hard to recognize revolting. This concept shouldn’t have gotten off the ground. By the way, the agency that worked on this is called Anomaly. We hope this was one.