震撼廣告和震撼行銷

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.

性販賣

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 家庭團體 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.

其他時尚品牌將震撼廣告和挑逗性的性感結合在一起。

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.

公民震撼廣告

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.

政府可以使用震撼廣告

以下是澳洲政府贊助的震撼廣告範例。

遊擊行銷和吸煙

“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.

動物福利與震撼廣告

虐待動物組織使用震撼行銷來展示他們的案例。

又一則關於虐待動物和兒童給受虐待動物哺乳的令人震驚的廣告。

震撼廣告的歷史

90年代見證了一切「震撼」的事物的出現。震撼搖滾歌手瑪麗蓮曼森 (Marilyn Manson) 突破了藝術情感的界限，正如他的靈感來源愛麗絲庫珀 (Alice Cooper) 在 70 年代所做的那樣。廣播員霍華德·斯特恩開創了“震撼運動員”現象，將他個人生活的直率誠實與對演播室嘉賓的無限制對抗方式融為一體。儘管受到批評者和廣大公眾的強烈抵制，曼森和史特恩都透過這種方法取得了巨大的成功。

在曼森和斯特恩之前，進步時尚大亨盧西亞諾·貝納通（Luciano Benetton）通過挑釁性廣告試水了“震撼廣告”（Shockvertising），這些廣告以新穎且引人注目的方式吸引了公眾的注意力。

儘管有些人認為本質上有爭議，但貝納通堅稱該廣告並不是為了震驚，而是為了提高大眾的意識。他的成功可能同樣得益於這兩個因素。

貝納通針對當時的熱門議題製作了廣告，將引人注目的圖像與大膽的社交訊息結合起來，吸引了消費者的注意力，並顯著提高了公眾對該品牌的認知度。

貝納通的 United Colors 活動現在可能很難想像，但在 1982 年，看到兩名年輕女性裹著毯子，緊握雙手抱著嬰兒，這被認為是令人震驚的——她們三人顯然都來自不同的種族。然而，透過這樣做，貝納通公開揭示了對同性戀刻板印象的新容忍和傳播，這在當時是革命性的。

貝納通的 United Colors 活動貝納通公司也推出了其他令人震驚的冒險廣告。一名截肢者手拿勺子，象徵解決世界飢餓問題。透過色彩繽紛的保險套和性愛像以積極的態度應對愛滋病問題。三顆真實的人類心臟並排，貼上「白、黑、黃」的標籤，說明了我們在表面之下的相同性。這些都是有效的活動，也突破了界限，並有助於重新定義社會對迄今為止禁忌話題的接受程度。

它並不總是有效。奧利維羅·托斯卡諾 (Oliviero Toscano) 早期與貝納通 (Benetton) 和攝影師合作，拍攝了兩個年輕女孩（黑人和白人）在一起的照片。當一個女孩被描繪成天使般的形象，而另一個女孩則被投射在更惡魔般的光芒下，她的頭髮被設計成魔鬼角的風格時，這個想法失敗了。這種對純真的扭曲並沒有得到大眾的認可。另一項運動試圖利用實際的囚犯作為模型，這是一個新穎的概念，但給人的印像是對暴力的一種認可。儘管如此，儘管遇到了這些挫折，貝納通仍繼續提高爭議標準，最終提高了品牌知名度。

鼓舞人心的涼爽

如今，震撼廣告仍然存在，知名公司採用類似的技術來提高其產品的時尚度，並與日益多樣化和寬容的受眾建立聯繫。通常，震驚因素是無意的，因為公司反映了執行長的個人利益，有時會損害他們的整體訊息。 Chick-Fil-A 最近積極譴責同性婚姻，惹怒了許多人。儘管許多忠實顧客接受了福來雞的強硬立場，但其他潛在顧客卻因該活動而疏遠，負面影響至今仍在繼續。

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 Forever 21 包款內附聖經經文。

激發社會變革

當滿足他們的需求時，主要參與者不會迴避令人震驚的轉變。 Google Chrome 最近在熱門電視節目《歡樂合唱團》中推出了「It Gets Better」活動。谷歌瀏覽器公開反對仇恨和不寬容，在其所吸引的年輕人中佔據了很好的位置。

比爾蓋茲、微軟和亞馬遜最近利用廣告來彌合有時不同的受眾之間的差距，在採取支持婚姻的立場的同時，以促進包容性和多樣性的方式傳達訊息。

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”.