Whether you’ve been hanging by the watercooler trying to flush your system after Super Bowl gluttony or on Facebook checking o
ut your friends’ thoughts on the game and/or commercials, you’ve heard about it. Chances are you’ve probably watched it in its entirety. Yes, we’re talking about PETA’s television ad. Pulled from the Super Bowl for being too “explicit,” the 30-second spot has consequently generated more buzz than any that actually ran during the big game.
While human instinct has long drawn us to that which we are told to stay away from, social media has put more power than ever in the hands of the consumer.
Five years ago, this would have been a net loss for PETA. A few news outlets may have covered it– and if PETA was lucky, a television news program may have featured a snippet—leaving the viewer in the dark about the message. Today, with YouTube at nearly everyone’s fingertips—curious folks (myself included) just search and watch the commercial in its entirety. Then they pass along to their curious friends via Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, etc. and discuss whether it should have been pulled. As a result—PETA’s message has found its way to more eyeballs than ever– and people are evangelizing whether they know it or not. Why? Because it’s no longer advertising—it’s news. How many people are going to forward and comment on the “Clydesdale finds love” spot by Anheuser-Busch? By my very unscientific YouTube tally, the score is PETA: 140,000 views; Anheuser-Busch: 2,800.
While this is nothing new (as GoDaddy has been pushing this for years), we have to ask– Is this the recipe for success in social media age? Push the envelope with scantily-clad women, edgy language or crude jokes and hope you get the axe from network television? Perhaps—but it is clear that the power of marketing is shifting. The consumer will continue to define success — on their terms.
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As a consumer myself, the use of sex and profanity to promote your "stuff," whatever that may be, is totally despicable, wrong, and immoral. What are we trying to tell people with this type of "advertising?" That women are mere objects to be lusted after? That thinking up the most perverted jokes is "cool?" What ever happened to virtue? Morality? God?
i think the point is made that for how ever many million dollars that budweiser spent, word of mouth is everything. it's not about the sexuality, or anything "immoral"- it's about the buzz that was created as a result of the exclusion. in time, the public will grow tired of increasingly transparent attempts to push the envelope and will find something else that's buzzworthy. the key is that the power is now in their hands. not the advertiser, nor the network.
Virtue. Morality. God.
Sure, I'll play.
Reality. Existence. Fiction.
[...] SmartBlog On Social Media » The PETA Approach – How social media is changing the big game smartblogs.com/socialmedia/2009/02/04/the-peta-approach-how-social-media-is-changing-the-big-game – view page – cached Whether you’ve been hanging by the watercooler trying to flush your system after Super Bowl gluttony or on Facebook checking o ut your friends’ thoughts on the game and/or commercials, you’ve heard about it. Chances are you’ve probably watched it in its entirety. Yes, we’re talking about PETA’s television ad. Pulled from the Super Bowl for being too “explicit,” the 30-second spot has consequently generated more buzz than any that actually ran during the big game. — From the page [...]
[...] SmartBlog On Social Media » The PETA Approach – How social media is changing the big game smartblogs.com/socialmedia/2009/02/04/the-peta-approach-how-social-media-is-changing-the-big-game – view page – cached Whether you’ve been hanging by the watercooler trying to flush your system after Super Bowl gluttony or on Facebook checking o ut your friends’ thoughts on the game and/or commercials, you’ve heard about it. Chances are you’ve probably watched it in its entirety. Yes, we’re talking about PETA’s television ad. Pulled from the Super Bowl for being too “explicit,” the 30-second spot has consequently generated more buzz than any that actually ran during the big game. — From the page [...]
I agree that word of mouth is still the best for of advertising. Yeah, your YouTube video may get thousands of hits, but who is spreading the links? People.
My recent post Security Issues on Social Network Websites