RIYADH: Despite being frowned upon by some, advertising flops can serve brands well, as “any noise is good noise,” said industry expert Kaswara Al-Khatib.
A number of advertisements in Arab television history have sparked controversy, with some being pulled from the screens.
Al-Khatib, head of the Saudi advertising agency Full Stop and CEO and chairman of UTurn Entertainment, recalls a Coca-Cola ad in which a young man spots a girl who is sitting with her mother at a restaurant. The young man likes the girl so he writes his phone number on a Coca-Cola can and gives it to her while the mother never notices.
“Some people may have found this ad disrespectful, showing… the mother as the neglected naïve element in the scene,” Al-Khatib told Arab News. He added that even if the ad is seen as disrespectful, it is creative. The idea can be seen like “the product spreads love.”
“Brands and associations tend to be more uptight and reserved about advertisements and the messages they convey than consumers. They often stand at two different sides of the spectrum. Consumers don’t overanalyze,” Al-Khatib said.
An ad that the Full Stop agency worked on in the past was for a bottled drink called Mazaj, Arabic for “mood.” The ad’s tagline says in colloquial slang Arabic “drink or don’t drink! I don’t really care!... What matters is the mood.”
The slang Arabic used in the ad was perceived as offensive by some, said Al-Khatib. “The idea behind it was to give youth the freedom to do whatever they want because they are often told what to do. The ad has a rebellious attitude,” he said.
The advertising and media executive said he does not promote flops in ads just to make noise. Yet he believes they can actually turn out to be a positive thing.