Lock & Load

Dumb idea of the week #2

Dumb idea of the week #2: Insult your customers.

E4’s new advertising campaign on the London Underground has an advert which says:

“Big shiny movies into dinky little home”

(Or words to that effect) It then goes on to list all the movie nights (including Friday) on channel E4.

Now why on earth would an advertiser send this message to potential customers:

“You’re a loser who lives in a cramped little hole with nothing better to do – including on a Friday night – than to stay in and watch a TV movie,  which, incidentally, will rub in your face how bright and big the world is in contrast to your pathetic existence.”

Isn’t that the message?

At least the escalator advert of Lastminute.com was simply the victim of bad timing. How could their ad agency have known that the week they released their “Why not have airline food for lunch?” campaign, one of the biggest airline food providers would launch industrial action that saw chaotic scenes at Heathrow, followed by allegations in The Times that the same company’s food was infested with E.coli germs.    

posted by Brett Lock @ 12:18 pm