May
02
Gas Chambers for a Mouthwash commercial?
By
I am not a fan of this commercial and I don’t think it’s virtuous. The commercial starts out with a gas chamber which immediately made me feel uncomfortable. While nothing bad happens in the commercial and no real “gas” is used, the tagline is that “Bad breath kills”. The whole set-up of placing the man in the chair and locking him in the gas chamber is not effective to me, and personally, I think it is scary. I wonder if they are allowed to show this ad on TV. I think it would be extremely offensive to a variety of people. I think they pushed it a little too far with this commercial because they are really just trying to sell mouthwash.
9 Comments
May 2nd, 2010 at 9:52 am
Wow…I can’t believe that ad was even made. In my opinion it is WAY too serious of a subject to use as a joke. I haven’t seen it on TV so I wonder if they chose not to air it? Probably would be a good choice. Don’t you feel like they could have gone a different route?! It would be find out if the person who did this ad has a history of controversial work.
May 2nd, 2010 at 1:16 pm
This ad 100% freaks me out. From the creepy looking people to the absolutely foul teeth shown, I am bothered. I’ve never heard of this particular mouth wash brand, and from the content I am guessing this is a European ad. They are able to do much more shocking, and even disturbing ads than would ever be produced in America. For me personally using a death chamber is way too serious of a topic to use in any advertisement, period. Maaaaybe for a PSA against criminals or something it would be okay, but this is just over the top.
May 2nd, 2010 at 7:52 pm
I agree that the subject matter is way too controversial to use as a joke. It’s for mouthwash– they could have easily taken a different route. I would much rather watching a boring commercial with the person swishing around mouthwash then watching a gas chamber. The most shocking thing is that the commercial actually came from a respected ad agency- Ogilvy & Mather. It was not from an office located in the US, however. I also am not sure if it aired, but I doubt it would ever pass as being allowed on TV.
May 2nd, 2010 at 7:53 pm
Liz, I agree completely. This is “shock” advertising used in a bad way. This also really does not make me want to go out and buy the mouthwash. It was a European ad– Ogilvy & Mather, Indonesia. Regardless, this is just crossing the line. I really am hoping it never aired. Can you imagine if a child saw this??
May 3rd, 2010 at 10:46 am
First and foremost, I agree that this ad is pretty gross/weird and pretty reprehensible. However, European or Indonesian ads have a totally different market to appeal to. I don’t know how it would be interpreted in those markets, but maybe this is what research showed would work. I would almost say that it could be interpreted as humorous in a very dark way, but it may not be as big of a deal in those markets and thus come across as funnier and less shocking. Check out Ads of the world (http://adsoftheworld.com/) and see how weird some of that stuff is. We Americans have it pretty great here, its a lot more gritty for some people.
May 3rd, 2010 at 12:16 pm
I agree with all of you in that it is a very disturbing ad to wash. I do believe that shock and scare tactics are effective in certain ad campaigns, but I don’t think that in case it worked. The scare tactics are usually used to reinforce a concept and generate awareness, but in this example, you don’t even know what product they are advertising till the end. Personally, I do not think that the agency had to take so extreme measures such as using gas chambers as a metaphor for bad breath. It’s a bit too extreme and unnecessary.
May 3rd, 2010 at 12:45 pm
What Haynes said earlier is dead on. I also agree with all of you that this ad is grotesque, but this would be very unlikely to air in the US. Like Haynes pointed out, we are much more sensitive to being “political correct” here. We can’t understand or assume others sense of humors unless we understand their cultural. I also loved the adsoftheworld.com website that you referenced too. I noticed many ads that I have seen in other classes that are controversial as well. The website also has an interesting blog and forum in many languages. I second the reference Haynes made to the website. Allsion and Liz are also right, this shock advertising is too extreme for us in the US; we are too sensitive.
May 3rd, 2010 at 1:15 pm
I guess I never really thought about how this commercial could be appealing to European markets- good point, Haynes! Also, I feel like a company like Ogilvy would know what they are doing. If the advertising research says that this type of shock advertising is what will make the product sell then I guess they are doing something right. I have also been to the adsoftheworld website many times and it is crazy to see what some countries are able to produce and show in their country. I have to say that I appreciate how much the US censors. And I also agree with you Lauren, so many cultures have different types of humor than we do in the United States so I guess it’s not really fair to judge. I would love to talk to some people in Indonesia and see what their opinion on this commercial is.
May 3rd, 2010 at 11:11 pm
Although different cultures define the term virtuous as it is used in advertising differently, I still do not believe this ad is appropriate. Sure, I have seen the Trojan Olympics that aired in the UK, and although racy and innappropriate for the US, I still thought they were funny and could see how Europeans would love that. Yet, I really do not think that gas chambers should be taken lightly this way and used for humor, especially for a product like mouthwash commercial. It is ridiculous. What I find so incredible about this ad is that it was filmed so well. It seems like it would have been fairly expensive to create. The music and the sound effects, just the film in general, I felt like I was seeing a preview for a movie that would win some grammy (minus the unrecognizable actors). I do understand the perspective of what other cultures find appropriate, I just believe that this shouldn’t be taken light heartedly.