SMRT BT WTF!

The marketing guys behing the WB show Gossip Girls did a damn good job getting Gossip Girls some PR and awareness, now they have to deal with the fall out. For those of you haven't seen the Ads take a look at the thumbnails. There has been a lot of negative buzz about this Ad Campaign and very little positive. My take on this is a little gray so bear with me.

The positive. The campaign has done a really good job targeting the teens. OMG, OMFG or :-o are all texting abbreviations and combined with the soft porn imagery it can walk the fine line.


The negative. The visuals are soft porn, they don't even try to hide it. There's no subtelty or intelligence behind it. The inside joke is for teens only so anybody with children or over 40 will immediately dislike it. I have a seven year old girl that has loves Hannah Montanna. As a role model HM is too old and already she's getting a lot of flack for showing her back in the Annie Liebowitz photoshoot. I want my daughter to be preoccupied by things that are age appropriate to her. But I know things are going to sneak past me and she might see HM in the semi-risque photo. I can't shelter her, but at the same time I think she needs to focus on being a girl first, boys can come later. Which brings me back to Gossip Girls, this campaign is everywhere, internet, ads and most open to the world…billboards. This whole contrabversy started when the billboard went up, up until then nobody paid attention to it. (On another note it shows you the power of outdoor.) Everybody under the sun has seen it in LA, especially children. So I'm not happy that little girls are going to see this on their way too and from school. I think they should have shown a little more tact.

Europe vs US: Having grown up in Holland I have to say I saw things as risque as this at an early age. I have only a boys perspective so I always found them exciting and eye catching of course. I'd like to know what a womans perspective would be if they too grew up in Holland. The thing is that in Europe is somewhat the norm and because it's the norm it gets tuned out easier. They have to resort to being clever with their advertising. Here we hold our marales high and become easily outraged when children see ads like the Gossip Girls. Of course it's incredibly hypacrytical when the US is the porn capital of the world. I can only look at it from my seven year old daughter's eyes and I wish they hadn't placed it on a billboard. But I have to commend them on figuring out a way to get some crude attention to a crap show.