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I’m
Sooooooo Offended
By Greg Hansen
You just launched a new
ad or ad campaign and you got a complaint from someone who was offended or didn’t
like your ad. So what do you do?
First thing, realize this.
The old saying is true in advertising — you can’t please all of the
people all of the time. And I ask you once again, what would you rather do, bore
95 percent of your audience, or offend 5 percent?
Realize also that there
are people and groups out there who scour ads to find something they can complain
about. It seems we have become a nation where the vocal minority wins. For effective
marketing, we must reverse this trend.
So you’ve gotten a
complaint. What do you do?
You have to respond. If
it were one complaint or thousands, you must do something. And when you do respond,
it must be in a professional and understanding way. You don’t want to offend
them further.
If you received only a few
complaints, thank them for their responses, explain it was not your intention
to offend them, and go about your merry way.
If you get thousands and
thousands of complaints, you might need to re-evaluate your campaign.
Here are some real-world
examples:
One of our clients launched
a radio ad that was a spoof of Dr. Laura. The client got a complaint from a Dr.
Laura fan about how offensive the ad was, and the complainant demanded that the
ad be removed immediately.
The client’s initial
reaction was, “We have to stop running the ad!”
After calming them down,
we explained it was only one person. “Are you going to let one person dictate
your marketing?” So we got them to respond to the complainer with a nice
letter that their intention was not to offend and that they appreciated the response.
Another client ran a print
ad with a headline that was similar to a quote from a famous baseball player.
Of course the client got a complaint from a baseball fan.
Yet another client ran a
print ad that was deemed offensive by an individual claiming the ad’s headline
was sacrilegious.
In each of these cases,
only a single complaint was made. We counseled our clients to respond politely
each time, which they did. This alleviated the problems quickly and easily. The
alternative would have been to change their marketing and abandon compelling,
provocative advertising that was doing its job and throw away thousands of dollars
to satisfy a few.
But what if you get thousands
of complaints?
Quizno’s recently
ran what I call the “Squished Rat” campaign. I’m sure you know
what I’m talking about.
As reported in the August
2, 2004 Advertising Age, Quizno’s finally has pulled the campaign,
not admitting it was because of complaints. Some store owners were placing signs
in their windows stating that they had nothing to do with the “Squished
Rat” campaign because they got so many complaints. One store owner stated,
“In our area we’ve had nothing but negative comments and sales will
prove that it hurt business.” Quizno’s Chief Marketing Officer Trey
Hall admits to receiving more than 30,000 calls the first week the spots aired
but won’t say whether they were positive or negative.
In this case, changing the
campaign was the right thing to do.
So if you do get a few complaints
about your advertising — and I guarantee you someone out there somewhere
won’t like it — take them with a grain of salt. Respond politely and
carry on about your business.
At some point, however,
you may need to make a judgment call. If the number of complaints outweigh the
positive business results you expect, you’ll need to re-evaluate your marketing
and your agency.
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author: Greg Hansen
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