Karate ads for the RDCA Academy of Martial Arts. The first ad features a little boy drawing lipstick on himself with his mothers mirror and makeup. The second add sees him wearing his mothers shoes.Comments range from people being amused to them being outraged. One man jokingly said, 'If you son is wearing makeup, he may need to learn self defense'. Other people are showing their own ignorance by saying that the ads are anti-gay. Since when does being gay mean wearing make-up and mom's shoes?
I happen to dislike the ads. I think it is a bad image for martial arts. As if the dojo is some magical 'man' place that will scare the girl right out of your kid. One thing to think about is that I never heard of the RDCA before these ads. Now I do know the name. Will these kind of ads hurt a business? Or is it true that there is no such thing as 'bad' publicity?
I'd never heard of those ads before. I don't think I like them either - they seem inflammatory to me. I don't know why they'd want to use something so provocative to advertise for martial arts training....
ReplyDeleteGood question. I think in terms of creating awareness even bad publicity can do the job.
ReplyDeleteI'd also never heard of them and now I seen these ads I'll probably remember them, but they certainly wouldn't inspire me to train at this dojo.
If you want to create consumer confidence in your product or service I think it's best to stay well away from anything that may stir up controversy.
I wouldn't want to deal with the kind of dad who would feel the need to send his kid to karate because he was somewhat effeminate.
ReplyDeleteI personally think these are quite sad. The thought that a small child would be bullied, that karate is taken out of the context of being an "art" and presented as retaliation to ridicule. Not very tasteful
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