Last week in class a discussion was sparked about offensive advertising.
Here are a few examples that our professor sent us, of advertising that some have deemed offensive:
I don't hate this, but I find it unnecessary. There is no need to use such strong figures as Ghandi and Mother Theresa to sell a simple product as gum.
I have been going back and forth between how I feel about this ad. The advertising part of me thinks they are not really offensive because they are done by a large blind advocacy organization, and take a different/creative approach to advocacy for blind people, but the part of me with the disabilities studies minor feels that it really sends the wrong message. While the ad is aimed at businesses to encourage them to hire blind employees, the ads don't promote anything about the benefits that blind people could bring to the business. So often people with disabilities can provide great benefits to organizations, but this does not show this. It is honestly surprising that this is what a blind advocacy organization would use.
Kenneth Cole - This was just plain inappropriate.
Here's an ad that I find to be pretty offensive:
I think a lot of times advertising tries to make unique combinations or associations but often times they take it way too far, and make an association that is pretty offensive. This is one of those occasions. They are associating with their cars with the skin of a Black person. There is no relevance to the VW brand, and while it certainly gets attention, the image does not tell the story or work with the line. To me it makes no sense and brings race into something that it doesn't need to a part of.
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