Read this…

“NBC Fills Superbowl Ads, Says No To PETA”

Then Consider This:

What if advertisers concentrated on actually selling us something?

“Eva Mendes Naked”…Wait for it…

If you were going to pitch me an ad campaign and it started with that phrase, you’d be halfway home. Now, that may not be everyone’s “hot naked cup of tea,” but I bet a significant number of men would believe that whatever you were selling would benefit significantly from simply having that element in the campaign.

But being an “Ad Man” myself, I know that assumption to be patently untrue. Before you question my “hetero street cred,” I would be the first to admit that if all PETA wants is attention from men, then they’ll get it, but if they want anything else, they are aiming for the “wrong brain” (he said with tongue firmly planted in cheek).

PETA recently developed an ad campaign that was presumably geared towards changing the behavior of the largely “meat-eating, dominantly male (but not totally), apparently hormonally triggered” audience that featured “unimaginably sexy models” getting (inappropriately, according to NBC Censors) worked up over the idea of a vegetarian lifestyle. NBC rejected the advertisement based on content. I guess that “PETA concentrated too much of the commercial on the T&A”…honestly, I thought there was a joke in there somewhere, sorry.

The Premise of the PETA AD, you ask?

“Vegetarians have better S-E-X.”

 The copy included “footage of models rubbing vegetables, such as pumpkin and asparagus, on the breasts and pelvic regions, as well as using vegetables in ways suggestive of sexual intercourse.” NBC canned it for being far too suggestive.

Before we get off course, I want you to know that I am not going to share with you my personal views on censorship. Relax.

 Look, the phrase “sex sells” requires no support.  It simply does.  But that doesn’t mean it will sell everything without laying the foundation for why and how the product or service is connected to the lasciviousness. Oftentimes, that is where the real “creativity” comes into campaigns. How can you make the rationale to purchase the product exist above the “attention-grabber”.  If awareness and recognition are your only goals, then simple titillation (I’ll pause here to allow for giggles) may be just what you are looking for.

Example: Paris Hilton “writhing on a car hood as she eats a Bacon double BBQ Burger.”

The campaign worked for Carl’s Jr. because they needed to get awareness from the burger eating community and separate themselves from the big boys. Paris accomplished these objectives. The ad was literally HUGE on YouTube.    

The Campaign spoke the language of the football fan. It talked about things they already wanted; they just needed a sex-laced push to go check out Carl’s Jr.

“Bravo!” to Carl’s Jr!  Hot Chicks, Cars and Meat!

So why is PETA co-opting our sex drive? They want our “testoterone-y carnivores” to consider their appetites and replace chicken wings and steaks with a hardy tofu-dog or maybe an eggplant parmigiana!  What’s wrong with that? Nothing, except PETA is not “dovetailing with the existing motivation of their target market.”

They are trying to get a behavior that (“BrandSpeak” coming in 5,4,3,2,1!) “exists outside of the target-market’s paradigm.” They seem to have forgotten that the job of the advertiser and the media buyer really is to put the creative in front of people that might have a reason to want what they are selling. In this case, PETA has taken something that hits the demographic “square in the zipper,” completely missing their “charity.”

“Hot models writhing suggestively” makes their message so completely secondary to the sensibilities of the group that they are targeting. You see, as a male that may find the idea of “attractive naked women simulating sex with common side dishes” appealing, I can’t square the idea that it should stop me from liking charbroiled goodness (and I am in the industry)!  How about this for an idea that would get your attention and drive a response that starts a discussion based on the facts (all while passing the censors):

Vignette: “A boy and his dog idyllically tromping through the wood, cut to the two playing fetch, cut to lying in a meadow. Cut to the boy and his family sitting around the TV watching a football game (much like the Super Bowl), and in between the cheers, you show old “Rover” being led out back by mom. You hear the sound of a bolt gun going off, maybe a muffled yelp, cut to the boys horrified face and the caption reads, “Meat is Meat, right?” Then, a web address appears, which leads you to a website extolling the virtues of a vegetarian lifestyle, making the argument that sentient creatures shouldn’t be raised for the eating because one life isn’t better than the others just because it is cuter, or something to that effect…

Too subtle? Maybe, but at least it makes the message the most important thing in the spot. PETA sells a message, so that’s their product. If they want controversy, cash and a behavioral change from the audience, then they should actually ask for it!

Let’s be honest. If you are hanging out watching the Super Bowl, are you in the mode of considering “the value of your dietary choices as they impact the food chain as a whole” or  “the morality of a porterhouse?” C’mon people! Maybe the media buy is spurious to begin with…?

I know that PETA is a “cause celeb” (celebrities respond to esoteric shots of naked models, it makes them all weepy for baby cows I guess), but let’s be honest, does PETA have the kind of “discretionary funds” that make it ok for them to simply “fight for eyeballs” instead of converts? Look, hot dogs are cheap, JTM is affordable, and practical families may be just as offended by the egregious misuse of ad spend, as much as they would be by the content.

So what have we learned?

The “take away” from this should be that if you are going to take the time, effort and money to make advertising copy of any sort, expend the creative on highlighting and positioning the product, concept or service that you are selling because that makes it easier for people to decide to buy it!