Sunday, June 05, 2005

Gross out for dollars

The ad depicts a teenaged girl touching the pimpled face of a teenaged boy drawing blood from the pimple. She then licks his blood-smeared face. Pam Fraser of Vancouver, to her slim merit actually managed to call the ad “gross” but did give it one star (of five). Target’s Tom Murphy raved about it because it was “refreshing” so three stars from him and Geofrey Roche of Lowe Roche gushed “I love this spot… for its gross out factor.” Mark three and half stars.

Are we on the same pimple? Did it occur to any of these dimwits that this ad conveys the idea that kissing a bloody pimple is erotic and cool? We live (hullo?) in an age of blood-borne diseases and kids at this age should be especially advised as to what’s hip in the touching department.

We have enough kiddies out there playing vampire games in nightclubs that we don’t need to be helping them along in swapping blood refuse. Did the word “hygiene” not occur to any of these super cool advertising people?

Obviously not. And who cares? As long as clients like Mac’s Convenience Stores is shelling out, Bos makes the big bucks. Now that we’ve got a fix on the moral compass of this industry, how about targeting ads for arms dealers? Anyone know the telephone prefix for North Korea or Zimbabwe?

No comments: