震撼广告和震撼营销

Today’s advertising environment is filled with too many messages and not enough attention by consumers.  Shock Marketing is a field of marketing that provokes, inspires and stuns the public. This article explores the use and impact of shockvertising in advertising campaigns.

Shockvertising and Shock Marketing are most often thought of and used in Social Marketing campaign.  In campaigns against drinking, animal brutality, meat consumption, abortion, racism, climate change and social inequality, advertisers grab headlines and priceless publicity that cannot be bought without the shock value.

This advertisement below by Diesel catered to growing concern over rising sea tides due to climate change, particularly after Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth” showed pictures of Manhattan flooding because of global warming.  The main message shows irony with having young people having to sunbathe on the top of a roof because of climate change’s flooding of Manhattan skyscrapers.  As she pours water into his mouth, it suggests that you can taste the water.  While making a statement, it promotes Diesel’s clothing line.  Diesel mirrored the same message in other cities showing bathing suits, parrots and penguins in cities like Rio, Venice, and the North pole.

性销售

The old adage goes that sex sells.  But shockvertising goes beyond sex to make a statement or invoke powerful imagery to resonate.  What shocked Americans in 2009 was a Calvin Klein billboard in Soho in New York City.  What was shocking to Americans was not the sexuality, but having two heterosexual men with one woman.  A man sleeps on the floor below, giving the impression that he is dreaming of the situation above (supported by the faded dream-like top part of the billboard).  Freudian psychologists’ imaginations went wild interpreting the photo, and 家庭团体 demanded that the ad be taken down.  Though the financial success of the campaign has not been made available, the amount of free publicity was a big boost to Calvin Klein in a selling environment filled with new boutique jean competitors.

其他时尚品牌将震撼广告与暗示性的性暗示结合在一起。

Other brands use symbolism to shock.  Here Sisley tries to convey a symbol of urban fashionistas, while shocking the viewer into remember the brand.  As Sisley mainly targets large urban centers, Sisley may not expect a large backlash from boycotts and outcries from the public.

公民震撼广告

Even municipal governments use innovative shock marketing to prevent people from walking in certain areas. Many governments use shock advertisements to prevent binge drinking, smoking, sexual behavior, and unsafe behavior.

政府可以利用震撼广告

以下是澳大利亚政府赞助的震撼广告的一个例子。

游击营销和吸烟

“Truth” uses guerrilla marketing techniques to shock people to stop smoking.  This technique involved writing on toilet paper about how ammonia, used to clean toilet bowls, is in cigarettes.

动物福利和震撼广告

反对虐待动物组织使用震撼营销来证明他们的主张。

另一个令人震惊的关于虐待动物和儿童吮吸受虐动物的广告。

震撼广告的历史

90 年代，各种“震撼”音乐应运而生。震撼摇滚歌手玛丽莲·曼森突破了艺术感性的界限，就像他的灵感来源艾丽斯·库珀在 70 年代所做的那样。广播员霍华德·斯特恩开创了“震撼主持人”现象，将直言不讳的私人生活与对演播室嘉宾的无拘无束的对抗态度融为一体。尽管遭到了评论家和广大公众的强烈抵制，但曼森和斯特恩都凭借这种方法取得了巨大的成功。

在曼森和斯特恩之前，先锋时尚大亨卢西亚诺·贝纳通 (Luciano Benetton) 就曾尝试过震撼广告，其挑衅性的广告以新颖且引人注目的方式吸引了公众的注意。

尽管有人认为这则广告具有争议性，但贝纳通坚称，这则广告并非为了震惊公众，而是为了提高公众的意识。他的成功可能得益于这两个因素。

贝纳通制作的广告直面当时的热点问题，将引人注目的图像与大胆的社会信息结合在一起，吸引了消费者的注意力，并显著提高了公众对品牌的认知度。

贝纳通的统一色彩宣传活动现在可能很难想象，但在 1982 年，看到两个年轻女子裹着毯子，手拉手抱着婴儿的场景令人震惊——她们三个显然是不同种族的人。然而，贝纳通通过这样做，公开展示了对同性恋刻板印象的新容忍和传播，这在当时是革命性的。

贝纳通的统一色彩宣传活动贝纳通随后推出了其他大胆的震撼广告。一位截肢者用勺子代替手，象征性地呼吁解决世界饥饿问题。用彩色避孕套和性爱图像积极地呼吁解决艾滋病问题。三颗真实的人心并排摆放，分别标有“白人、黑人、黄种人”，说明我们所有人在表面之下都是相同的。这些活动非常有效，它们还突破了界限，帮助重新定义社会对迄今为止禁忌话题的接受度。

但这并不总是奏效。早期与贝纳通和摄影师奥利维耶罗·托斯卡诺的合作中，两位年轻女孩，一黑一白，在一起。当一个女孩被描绘成天使，而另一个女孩被描绘成恶魔，头发梳成恶魔角时，这个想法失败了。这种对纯真的扭曲没有得到公众的认可。另一项活动试图利用真正的罪犯作为模特，这是一个新颖的概念，但却给人一种对暴力的认可。尽管遭遇了这些挫折，贝纳通仍继续提高争议的门槛，最终提高了品牌的知名度。

激发酷感

如今，震撼广告依然存在，知名公司采用类似的技术来提升其产品的时尚指数，并与日益多样化和宽容的受众建立联系。通常，震撼因素是无意的，因为公司反映了其首席执行官的个人利益，有时会损害其整体信息。Chick-Fil-A 最近积极寻求谴责同性婚姻，这冒犯了许多人。虽然许多忠实客户支持 Chick-Fil-A 的强硬立场，但其他潜在客户却因这场运动而疏远，负面影响一直持续到今天。

Forever 21’s religious founder felt strong enough in his convictions to see that Christian scripture was included in each shopping bag. Whatever the repercussions of such an action, the company’s resolute stance serves to brand it as just that–resolute–which may serve its strategic marketing objectives.  An example was 印有《圣经》经文的 Forever 21 包。

鼓舞人心的社会变革

当需要时，主要参与者并不回避震撼性宣传。Google Chrome 最近在热门电视节目《欢乐合唱团》上推出了“一切都会好起来”活动。Google Chrome 公开反对仇恨和不宽容，将自己定位在他们所追求的年轻群体中。

比尔盖茨、微软和亚马逊最近都利用广告来试图弥合有时不同的受众之间的差距，同时采取支持婚姻的立场，并以促进包容性和多样性的方式传达这一信息。

Shockvertising isn’t for everyone. Used effectively, it can send a message that elevates a business entity’s profile and positions its brand as forward-thinking. Used ineffectively, shockvertising can backfire and cause long-term brand damage. As volatile as it may be, shockvertising has become a commonly used approach in contemporary advertising.

概括

Marketers use shockvertising when the backlash will be less than the marginal gain.  If the marketer’s target segment reacted negatively to the ad, then the marketer may lose goodwill and customers.  Marketers also make shockvertising meaningful.  If the advertisement is too abstract, consumers may not get the right message, a goal that is crucial in making an impact beyond the initial “shock”.