Friday, April 25, 2008

Wotif guilty of "recreational killing"

We have already discussed Wotif.com's entry into the traditional marketing world with TV (and also bus stop) advertising. I ran one of their commercials recently - the one featuring a creepy child/doll/horror movie motif. Here is a video of the second commercial - a "squid eating competition" (see video below). I raise it because Wotif have caused a stir with this ad and are getting into some problems with it.



Wotif has been cited by Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) in Australia over this commercial. This is the body in charge of ensuring that Australian advertising meets the legislative and industry standards. The ASB have been hit with complaints from viewers that the squid ad (according to B&T Magazine) .
“This is a graphic ad featuring a sadistic act, akin to biting the head off a budgie. It is gross cruelty presented as humour.”... “physically disgusting-cruelty to animals –morally repugnant.”
In the end the ASB ruled that the advertisement represented "recreational killing" and Wotif and its agency Leo Bennett will be forced to go back and rewrite portions of it. What do you think - funny ad or cruel and unusual punishment for cephalopods?

4 comments:

Aaron Spence said...

IMO, not the least bit funny, rather gross. Seems to be a pointless ad..."Hey people use Wotif to go somewhere you won't have any fun, and look we'll show you the gross things you can see there...and 2 people obviously having no fun"

I guess they were hoping for some shock value? I can't see any other benefit to the ad.

Aaron Spence
http://panedia.com

Anonymous said...

I think the ad is a joke, but I also think that the rules we live by are a joke.

So it is not ok to show this on TV, but it is ok to boil lobsters alive at restaurants and listen to them scream or to chain calf up in the dark for a year to produce veil?

Anonymous said...

well its got you two talking about it.

Anonymous said...

Let's just draw a veil over the whole veal thing. The whole thing is just another symptom of the decapod of western culture.