tebkrg
03-20-2003, 07:20 PM
http://www.commercialcloset.org/cgi-bin/iowa/?page=column&record=59
7UP Prison Ad Gets Locked Up
By Michael Wilke
June 2, 2002
View this ad
When is male rape funny? When it's the subject of a commercial for a soft drink trying to get attention among young males -- until someone raises it as a "human rights" issue.
In the latest 7UP ad, its bumbling spokesman (comedian Godfrey) shows up in a prison to find a "captive audience" for the product. When handing out free soda, he drops a can but then laughs and says, "Ooo, I'm not picking that up." (No matter that he's safely on the other side of the bars.)
The commercial closes as he sits on the edge of a bed in a cell next to a heavily tattooed prisoner who has his arm around him. "When you bring the 7UP, everyone is your friend," he says, but gruffly adds to his cellmate, "That's enough being friends." Even the year-and-a-half old tagline, "Make 7UP Yours" -- originally a play on "up yours" -- takes on new meaning.
After running the ad for two months, 7UP and Dr Pepper parent Cadbury Schweppes pulled the commercial after criticism that it makes light of human rights.
Was the company responding to the gay community? Not exactly. A group called Stop Prisoner Rape issued a press release that states, "This commercial was perpetuating the kind of callousness that allows sexual abuse to continue in so many prisons virtually unchecked. We're very glad to hear that 7UP has decided to stop sending out the message that it's okay to laugh about rape when it involves people in prison."
Pulling and Editing Commercials Common Due to Homophobia
While prison rape isn't necessarily a gay issue, homophobia is the commercial's source of humor and remains a popular root of jokes in countless ads. More often, advertising is pulled off air or modified because it is gay positive. In 1991, Kmart quickly dropped a commercial that was perceived as representing a gay couple, and in 1994 IKEA's well known gay couple ad was removed after two weeks when its stores began getting bomb threats.
Modifications come for the same reasons. A groundbreaking 2000 depiction of a lesbian couple adopting a baby from John Hancock Financial Services was edited -- twice -- after the company was pressured by conservative groups. Seasonings company McCormick cut a male kiss from its ad in 2001 to "be sensitive to our audience."
How does a company spend hundreds of thousands of dollars an ad then fail to stand by it? Cadbury Schweppes spokeswoman Phillipa Dworkin says the 7UP commercial, created by Young & Rubicam, was extensively tested and received positive feedback. In fact, after two months of airing, she says the ad "did not receive heavy criticism from the public."
Not in Bad Taste, But Trivializing Human Rights
However, Dworkin says that SPR "made legitimate points that had not been detected by us or in our focus groups. We didn't want to trivialize human rights." She says it is the first time the company has pulled or modified an ad.
Benetton, Calvin Klein and Diesel have regularly created ads intended to provoke controversy and thrive on it. Advertising also often resorts to bathroom humor, particularly when appealing to youth, and 7UP's target demo is males 18-24. But surprisingly Dworkin doesn't call the commercial tasteless. "The ads are edgy and supposed to be -- that's what the target wants. But I don't think it was in bad taste," she says.
The commercial will be replaced by another that has run briefly, featuring overweight 7UP delivery truck drivers in "sexy" swimsuits.
Cadbury Schweppes' other brand, Dr Pepper, has twice before made references to the gay community. It had a handsome man attracting many stares, including another man's apparent look at his rear (the staring was really at dogs he was walking), and for Diet Dr Pepper an older, conservative looking man sat on the edge of a dock fishing -- in high heel pumps.
A few soft drinks have taken more progressive views on gay ad themes. The first same-sex kiss in a U.S. commercial came in 1998 from the briefly marketed Virgin Cola. In Canada, Jolt Cola offered a teen boy and girl in a car at a make-out spot, where she imagines a sexy woman in his place.
Still, not enough marketers are recognizing that youth are increasingly not threatened by the subject of homosexuality. In a national survey of 1,000 high school seniors by Hamilton College and MTV in March 2001, over 85% said that gays and lesbians "should be accepted by society."
Companies who want to avoid embarrassing public relations and wasting money on ads later dumped need to be more thoughtful about stereotypes and use common sense along with focus group testing. Companies looking for a cheap PR boost through controversy are finding a society increasingly wise to their ways.
7UP Prison Ad Gets Locked Up
By Michael Wilke
June 2, 2002
View this ad
When is male rape funny? When it's the subject of a commercial for a soft drink trying to get attention among young males -- until someone raises it as a "human rights" issue.
In the latest 7UP ad, its bumbling spokesman (comedian Godfrey) shows up in a prison to find a "captive audience" for the product. When handing out free soda, he drops a can but then laughs and says, "Ooo, I'm not picking that up." (No matter that he's safely on the other side of the bars.)
The commercial closes as he sits on the edge of a bed in a cell next to a heavily tattooed prisoner who has his arm around him. "When you bring the 7UP, everyone is your friend," he says, but gruffly adds to his cellmate, "That's enough being friends." Even the year-and-a-half old tagline, "Make 7UP Yours" -- originally a play on "up yours" -- takes on new meaning.
After running the ad for two months, 7UP and Dr Pepper parent Cadbury Schweppes pulled the commercial after criticism that it makes light of human rights.
Was the company responding to the gay community? Not exactly. A group called Stop Prisoner Rape issued a press release that states, "This commercial was perpetuating the kind of callousness that allows sexual abuse to continue in so many prisons virtually unchecked. We're very glad to hear that 7UP has decided to stop sending out the message that it's okay to laugh about rape when it involves people in prison."
Pulling and Editing Commercials Common Due to Homophobia
While prison rape isn't necessarily a gay issue, homophobia is the commercial's source of humor and remains a popular root of jokes in countless ads. More often, advertising is pulled off air or modified because it is gay positive. In 1991, Kmart quickly dropped a commercial that was perceived as representing a gay couple, and in 1994 IKEA's well known gay couple ad was removed after two weeks when its stores began getting bomb threats.
Modifications come for the same reasons. A groundbreaking 2000 depiction of a lesbian couple adopting a baby from John Hancock Financial Services was edited -- twice -- after the company was pressured by conservative groups. Seasonings company McCormick cut a male kiss from its ad in 2001 to "be sensitive to our audience."
How does a company spend hundreds of thousands of dollars an ad then fail to stand by it? Cadbury Schweppes spokeswoman Phillipa Dworkin says the 7UP commercial, created by Young & Rubicam, was extensively tested and received positive feedback. In fact, after two months of airing, she says the ad "did not receive heavy criticism from the public."
Not in Bad Taste, But Trivializing Human Rights
However, Dworkin says that SPR "made legitimate points that had not been detected by us or in our focus groups. We didn't want to trivialize human rights." She says it is the first time the company has pulled or modified an ad.
Benetton, Calvin Klein and Diesel have regularly created ads intended to provoke controversy and thrive on it. Advertising also often resorts to bathroom humor, particularly when appealing to youth, and 7UP's target demo is males 18-24. But surprisingly Dworkin doesn't call the commercial tasteless. "The ads are edgy and supposed to be -- that's what the target wants. But I don't think it was in bad taste," she says.
The commercial will be replaced by another that has run briefly, featuring overweight 7UP delivery truck drivers in "sexy" swimsuits.
Cadbury Schweppes' other brand, Dr Pepper, has twice before made references to the gay community. It had a handsome man attracting many stares, including another man's apparent look at his rear (the staring was really at dogs he was walking), and for Diet Dr Pepper an older, conservative looking man sat on the edge of a dock fishing -- in high heel pumps.
A few soft drinks have taken more progressive views on gay ad themes. The first same-sex kiss in a U.S. commercial came in 1998 from the briefly marketed Virgin Cola. In Canada, Jolt Cola offered a teen boy and girl in a car at a make-out spot, where she imagines a sexy woman in his place.
Still, not enough marketers are recognizing that youth are increasingly not threatened by the subject of homosexuality. In a national survey of 1,000 high school seniors by Hamilton College and MTV in March 2001, over 85% said that gays and lesbians "should be accepted by society."
Companies who want to avoid embarrassing public relations and wasting money on ads later dumped need to be more thoughtful about stereotypes and use common sense along with focus group testing. Companies looking for a cheap PR boost through controversy are finding a society increasingly wise to their ways.