Skip the Sex in Ads; Add Some Porn
I spend a lot of time talking about how we pour sex and violence into media messages to keep your eyes on the screen. Sure, you may decry it. But you watch.
The problem is one of habituation. What is sexy today is boring tomorrow. So you need to turn it up a notch. So ads get sexier and sexier. And beer models get more scantily clad.
A story in the Los Angeles Times outlines just how far one marketer will go to get your attention. French fashion company Shai Clothing said, basically, "Sex, you're just too boring for us. What we need is some pornography."
So they did just that. They hired some French pornography actors and actresses and shot some films. Then they posted them on the Internet. This is way better than television because there are no restrictions on content and you do not have a media budget. Just your server. And people e-mail their friends and blog about it (like me, what a jerk!). And other people go check it out. And word of mouth spreads the darned thing at very little expense to the marketer.
Talk about a viral video! (Sorry. Couldn't resist).
And lest you think I am exaggerating, please be aware that this is full on X rated stuff. And it's really popular. It took me 6 hours to download one of the "catalogs."
This is a new company, so the porn will probably help get the name out. Heck, I know their name now and did not yesterday. The Times article mentioned something about $100 T shirts. I don't think I'll be buying any of those.
If you have 6 hours to kill, download the .mov files and be amazed at the ever-changing boundaries. Just not in front of the kiddies. Or at work. Or in the state of Oklahoma.
The problem is one of habituation. What is sexy today is boring tomorrow. So you need to turn it up a notch. So ads get sexier and sexier. And beer models get more scantily clad.
A story in the Los Angeles Times outlines just how far one marketer will go to get your attention. French fashion company Shai Clothing said, basically, "Sex, you're just too boring for us. What we need is some pornography."
So they did just that. They hired some French pornography actors and actresses and shot some films. Then they posted them on the Internet. This is way better than television because there are no restrictions on content and you do not have a media budget. Just your server. And people e-mail their friends and blog about it (like me, what a jerk!). And other people go check it out. And word of mouth spreads the darned thing at very little expense to the marketer.
Talk about a viral video! (Sorry. Couldn't resist).
And lest you think I am exaggerating, please be aware that this is full on X rated stuff. And it's really popular. It took me 6 hours to download one of the "catalogs."
This is a new company, so the porn will probably help get the name out. Heck, I know their name now and did not yesterday. The Times article mentioned something about $100 T shirts. I don't think I'll be buying any of those.
If you have 6 hours to kill, download the .mov files and be amazed at the ever-changing boundaries. Just not in front of the kiddies. Or at work. Or in the state of Oklahoma.
posted by Samuel D. Bradley at 9:25 PM
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1 Comments:
I concur. Sex is lazy, and using porn is even more daft. Where do they go from here - molestation? Clearly they'll get tons of attention, but in two years nobody will remember their brand, and will struggle to recall that some clothing company used porn as a stunt to get on the map.
Well, they're on the map. Good luck staying there.
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