Heineken saves money on writers, enrages activists

The number 3 wrench in any creative’s tool kit is “Exaggerate the Benefit.” It can lead to deviously simply ideas that win award shows and garner bragging rights.

However it is also a fine line to tread, as Heineken found out in its latest ad for the famous brew. The suicide activists were on this ad quicker than the ones that went after that famed GM ad but it has yet to be pulled off the air.

It's simply just a dumb ad for a great beer in my books. That said, I would have liked to be at the meeting where they sold through the script…

My question is: Should Heineken stay the course against the critics or was this ad in bad taste?

Comments

[Kathy]

This is certainly in bad taste, and shows that you "get what you pay for". This not only appears to trivialize suicide and suicidal ideation -- but then draws a connection to beer as the solution. The people that produced this ad obviously did not do any background research because then they would have known making two such associations together is not only in bad taste, but also downright stupid since alcohol is a depressant. They should pull the ad and apologize.

[clément]

it's a student work...

[miro slodki]

What's the issue here,
the suicide subject matter, that it has sparked a controversy or that some don't like the commercial.

what about the famous stella artois commercial with the priests skating on a frozen pond

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7CdATgfAD4

when one of them falls through the ice and then dives down again to retrieve the beer? I don't recall any controversy about the dangerous behavior that commercial depicted.

We tend to give viewers too little acknowledgment that they can in fact see exactly what is intended - and that no company in the right mind would ever condone illegal or dangerous behavior.

Maybe there'ld be less controversy if they had a Chopin waltz playing in the background???

For those who simply don't like the commercial - well stand in line. How many commercials are actually liked by viewers
10%?, 40%?, 80%?

wont the ad be pulled once its objectives are met/not met

Heineken should stay the course.
Miro
http://miroslodki.wordpress.com

[Angus Gastle]

I agree. Can't it just be a bad ad for a great beer? I have to believe that consumers would need more than a beer commercial to start using alcohol as a solution to their problems.

These sorts of commercials are created, condemned and pulled all the time. It's just the neo-conservative work we live in.

[Kathy]

It's not really about being conservative, but about just being tasteless. Perhaps my feelings are more senestaive then others because I spent a fair amount of time advocating for individuals with mental health issues - the main problem that arises from this ad is that it trivializes suicidal idealation, period. I'm sure that if the ad portrayed another illness this distastefully it would never have been made in the first place. The GM ad did not make me think the same things this one did because it used a cg robot and was quite humorous in its approach, that and you realized it was dream at the end as well. It is simply bad ad in my opinion, and completely in bad taste.
As for the example of risk taking behavior, that is an aspect of our culture -- and one which almost seems a necessity to portray in order to sell many products -- particularly geared toward young men?

[Angus Gastle]

I can definitely understand where you are coming from as I have been effected by this in my life as well.

To your point, it is a bad ad as it just isn't very smart. However I don't feel like we should start cordoning off topics that offend some when the country we live in was founded on free speech. I have a hard time justifying a muzzle on the ad industry in terms of what topics they can discuss...

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