2. What is Advertisement?
• Advertising is an audio or visual form of marketing communication that
employs an openly sponsored, non-personal message to promote or sell a
product, service or idea.
• The memorable ad campaign is the Holy Grail for advertisers, all of
whom hope to come up with their own “Got Milk?” or “Where’s the
Beef?”
• However, some ad campaigns become unforgettable not for their
effectiveness, but for the utter lack of common sense involved in making
them. These campaigns didn’t just fail to attract business; they
offended viewers, generated congressional investigations and
occasionally inspired criminal activity.
Integrated Marketing Communication Assignment
3. 1. Nivea ‘White is Purity’
• Nivea has pulled a deodorant ad that declared "White Is Purity"
after people called the slogan racist and after some hijacked the
ad's online campaign with comments about white supremacy.
Integrated Marketing Communication Assignment
4. 2. Pepsi makes peace between protesters
and police
Integrated Marketing Communication Assignment
5. Contd…
• The audiovisual content clearly referenced protest imagery, while
the model casually handed a police officer a soda.
• Co-opting the visual language of resistance movements to sell soda
immediately prompted social media uproar, forcing Pepsi to
quickly pull the ad.
Integrated Marketing Communication Assignment
6. 3. Dove (Unilever)
• The brand was accused of racism over the online advertising
campaign and it later admitted it had “missed the mark” with an
image posted on Facebook.
• The advert showed a black woman
removing her top to reveal a white
woman underneath supposedly after
using Dove body lotion.
Integrated Marketing Communication Assignment
7. 4. Sony’s offensive ‘white is coming’
campaign
• White was also the problem for Sony in the Netherlands. In
unveiling an all-white PlayStation Portable to replace the original
black model, the consumer tech giant decided to run an out-of-
home campaign showing a ferocious white model firmly clutching
a black woman by the chin.
Integrated Marketing Communication Assignment
8. 5“Are we selling high-level ideas here, or are we
selling a product that’s supposed to clean your
skin?” – Dove Shapely Shampoo
Integrated Marketing Communication Assignment
9. Contd…
• Consumer surveys show that shoppers choose soaps and body
washes based number of factors, including scent, quality and
affordability. And while packaging certainly plays a role in how a
product is perceived, many said Dove’s campaign seemed to miss
the point.
• “Seems like a really stupid idea to remind people how their body
shape doesn’t fit a culturally ideal body shape,” said Patrick
Vargas, an advertising professor at the University of Illinois.
Integrated Marketing Communication Assignment
