Monday 25 January 2010

Absolut success and a few disasters



Advertising can have such a huge impact on the product as it can either boost sales or even make a product unpopular. The best example of a product, which has become so popular due to its advertising campaign is Absolut Vodka. This campaign has been running nonstop for fifteen years, which, in advertising, is practically forever. The first Absolut advert appeared in 1980 giving birth to an award winning campaign centred upon the distinctive shape of the Absolut bottle, which appears in some form or another. It is now considered to be one of the most successful campaigns in the history of advertising. The main reason for its success is because it is such a versatile advert yet it is still always very distinctive as being an Absolut vodka product. They are full of wit, artistry , and imagination and I am so inspired by them that I created a few of my own, which can be seen on my website. Hundreds of these adverts now exist however I have discovered a fan site, which contains every single one ever made:
AbsolutAd.com




Advertising can also have the reverse effect and create a bad name for products. A recent example is A Tetley advert, which was banned by the TV watchdog for misleading viewers. In the commercial, a woman decides to drink a cup of green tea rather than go jogging and the words 'as part of a healthy diet and lifestyle' appear on screen. The ASA said the commercial breached codes dealing with evidence and accuracy because it implied health benefits without evidence to back up the claims.

One advertisement, which I particularly like because of its colloquial nature was sadly banned for its use of a swear word. So where the bloody hell are you? was an advertising campaign launched in 2006 by Tourism Australia created by the Sydney office of the London advertising agency M&C Saatchi. The campaign received a huge press coverage however despite this, it was soon deemed a failure and withdrawn. The reason behind this was it was banned by the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre in the United Kingdom because they would not allow the word “bloody” in television versions of the commercial. After watching it, it really made me want to visit Australia because the people in the advert seemed so friendly and welcoming and so it was a shame it had to be banned.