I am getting more and more alarmed at how many brands treat their audience like babies – spoon feeding them facts that even the blind and stupid would get.
Have a look at this …
Yep, in front of a lady pulling her top down to reveal her breasts is a sticker stating “Unsuitable For The Young”.
No shit Sherlock …
The thing is, I wonder who the people who place these stickers think it is for – the potential purchaser or the retailer?
For me, such a sticker acts more as a magnet than a deterrent and if a retailer can’t tell that some babe with her boobs out isn’t exactly appropriate for a 12 year old kid, then they shouldn’t be in business in the first place.
The thing I find really interesting is the movie Inception, is currently the hot, hot movie in China right now.
This is a movie that is universally accepted as being complex … a movie that requires multiple viewings to ‘get it’ [and that’s in English, so it potentially becomes even harder when you need to read the subtitles to understand what’s going on] … and yet millions of people are flocking to be confused and questioned.
Thinking is not a bad thing.
Thinking is not a barrier to purchase.
Thinking is good for all parties – from the audience who get to grow from the experience to the brand who can justify their price point [and inspire their R&D] to the ad industry who can start to show what they’re really capable of.
If I was the Government, advertising standards wouldn’t be focused on just stopping untruths and the ambigious, it would be also empowered to minimise advertising mush.