“How’s the message being received? A study on controversial and shock advertising”

Abstract

Nowadays advertising is one of the key factors to reach successfully the target audience and to grab the consumer’s attention, and it’s most importantly the portal to the company’s message and values. However, we are living in a village ecosystem of images, and every day we are vastly exposed to thousands of them, often without even noticing. For this reason, in a world where it’s difficult to catch the eye of the target audience, there’s an increasing competition between the companies, and the necessity to stand out has become essential by now. It’s important to notice that there are different types of advertising, and they are divided in four essential categories: product oriented advertising, image advertising, advocacy advertising and public service advertising. Traditional advertising, which for definition engages mass media to deliver the brands’ message to the audience, has apparently suffered a decline in its efficiency due to the market saturation of new brands, and companies started to seek for a more effective way to grab the consumers’ attention. This thesis aims to study the evolution and impacts of shock and controversial ads, how they are able to influence the individuals who are exposed to them, examine their reactions, and analyse some case studies to better understand the phenomenon. Shockvertising is a controversial method of advertising mostly because it purposely offends or targets the sensibility of the consumer with the intent of gaining attention, encouraging cognitive processes and having an immediate impact on the individuals’ behaviour. The images used in shock ads and campaigns are either disgusting, sexual, sexist, profane or obscene in the ethical or religious sense, vulgar and generally improper, and all of them are addressed to consumers with the aim of sticking the message they want to convey. One of the first mentionable example is the Daisy ad (also known as “Daisy Girl” or “Peace, Little Girl”), which was a controversial 1964 political advertisement aired during the USA political election. It was produced to support Lyndon B. Johnson’s campaign, and at the time it was indeed considered as "...probably the most controversial TV commercial of all time" (Peter Hamill, New York Times, 25/10/1964). Since then, shock ads started to grow and spread through media, both for what concerns commercial campaigns and social ones, but in order to understand the results of shock ads is fundamental to examine the consumers’ reactions and opinions, and to interpret the different categories of appeals in advertising (i.e. fear appeals, as in the headline of the Central Bank of India: “Carrying a lot of money? You’re asking for trouble!”). So what’s the process thanks to which a shock ad became a successful ad? And what makes an advertising derail completely instead? The answers may reside in some of the most famous cases (Benetton, American Apparel, Pepsi), but the success of an ad is given by how the target audience perceives it. For this reason its important to study what factors lead the consumer’s mind, how culture, religion, education, age and gender influence the individuals’ perception, and why nowadays even an advertising created without any shock intent may be considered outrageous and controversial also in some western developed countries. In order to understand how to make a smart move in the modern maze of marketing, is therefore important to read between the lines of modern culture, and to be one step ahead is crucial to be aware of the impacts of shock advertising in today’s society.