So what do you think of the ads? Well personally I find it amusing when an agency’s tagline states “We Get Shoppers” gets such a negative response for their advertising campaign by the very consumers that were at the mall. Some denounced the ad ads as sexist, insulting and demeaning towards women. The most direct way to interpret the message of some of those messages is that women want to replace school with shopping. Another way to see it is that the ads push the message that women are obsessed with shopping and are not very bright. Either way I can see how many would be offended by the ads. What doesn’t help the advertising campaign’s case is that the ads only depict women, which contribute to how people interpret the message negatively. Patricia Parsons, communications professor at Mount Saint Vincent University, said she thought the campaign was tasteless, a bit sexist and humiliating to women.
Are you curious as to how the ads interpretation was meant to be?
Marketing Director, Rebecca Logan wrote: “The intent of this campaign was to generate awareness and excitement for back to school shopping. The concept was to correlate school related subjects to shopping and our strong social media presence in a humorous and light hearted manner.”
With some that response didn’t sit well. Rachael-Dawn Craig. A Dalhousie neuroscience graduate, with several published works to her name wrote: “If there wasn’t a daily struggle for women to establish themselves…maybe it would be funny. Oppression is not funny. Sexism is not funny. For those of us fighting this every day, it’s not funny.”
The management at The Mic Mac Mall felt the campaign was fine to run but I would have not run the ad campaign. I would see right away that the ad would be seen negatively by its residents. The root problem of the ad is that it enforces a negative way women are depicted. There is a struggle for some women to establish themselves and be accepted for their interests in science, social media, engineering, chemistry etc. There are young girls who struggle to be accepted by their peers if they have other interests such as sports or educational interests and these ads don’t help their cause. The ads got so much attention because they are based on a negative point of view that women should be interested in shopping much more than other endeavors. This almost follows a 1950’s point of view that women should shop and take care of the house and not have the same pursuits as men. If they depicted all men instead of women it would really seem out of place or actually seem ironic because there is a general belief that men are more interested in social studies, science, and educational interests in general, than shopping. If the ads depicted women and men that would be interesting because it would clash the way how we are perceived but I still believe it would receive complaints.
Since it was all women the message of the ads are demeaning because they enforce a message that women would rather shop than focus in some field of study.
About the design of the ads themselves I find the illustration art very impressive. The font also matches well with the illustration. The fact that the ads were more artistic instead of using live photos meant that the message was to be interpreted lightly and humorously.
Back to main concern, the concept of the ad.
What happened as a result of all the complaints of the ads was that they were removed and Mic Mac Mall issued an apology and a $5000 donation to an organization that offers year-round sessions for girls interested in science, technology and industry. It was definitely a strong move that helped reverse the damage of the ads. The ads were in the mall for only about one week.
On the other hand the Mic Mac Mall’s Facebook page and website landing page ads are fine with a slogan named “It’s a good day to shop.” Or “It’s a good day to shop and win” which does not mix in with school priority and won’t get people offended.
So in hindsight, “an ads concept is very important.”
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