Controversial marketing good for brands? :Marketing lessons from Dire Straits
Avoiding controversies of any form is a practice widely followed in business, but these controversies may have both positive and negative impact on our business. Controversial marketing brings together large audiences to invoke emotional responses, driving engagement levels and introducing conversations between brand and buyer on a more personal level.
Table Of Content
- A few popular controversies which helped the brand
1.1. Dire Straits
1.2. Red Bull
1.3. Calvin Klein - Calvin Klein’s Brief History Of Controversy
- Damages Of Being Controversial
- How Controversy Can Benefit A Brand
- Summary
1. A few popular controversies which helped the brand
1.1 Dire Straits:
Mark Knopfler never planed to insult the gay community when he wrote “Money for nothing” in 1985, which was a iconic rock song that won a Grammy for “Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group”. It topped the charts in the United States for three weeks that year and the groundbreaking animated video became the first video ever played on MTV Europe.
All of this happened despite the initial controversy about the lyrics. The lyrics for the song have been criticized as being racist, sexist and homophobic. It’s no wonder these lines were omitted from the band’s edited version of the song, but the unedited original version of the song continued to be a staple of classic rock stations around the world without any additional controversy.
However on January 2011 “Money For Nothing” was charged with a breach of the Human Rights Clauses of the Canadian Association of Broadcaster’s (CAB) Code of Ethics and Equitable Portrayal Code. The decision caused public outrage in support of the classic song, the song became became Canada’s most downloaded song on i-tunes. Thousands of people paid ninety-nine cents each to know what what all the fuss is about, putting Dire Straits back on the chart alongside contemporaries.
What Dire Straits saw in 2011 was how in certain circumstances, a controversy can be a great thing for a brand. Dire Straits and his band were back in the hits chart after decades. this shows us how positive controvert can effect us.
1.2 Redbull
In May 2009, a health institute in a northern German state that had taken a sampling of Red Bull Simply Cola announced it had found a trace of cocaine in the product. A 2008 study reported that drinking even one can of Red bull had negative impact on the blood. Today, despite all of the concerns, Red Bull is the most popular energy drink in the market thanks to the massive publicity that they generated by being a controversial product.
1.2 Calvin Klein
The brand has become both famous and infamous over the years and, when looking at its ad campaigns, it’s easy to see why. The brand has never been afraid to push the envelope, and is constantly teetering on the line between sexy and inappropriate. Calvin Klein is no stranger to controversy, and now it’s part of what makes them so known and so interesting.
Calvin Klein is a brand build on sex. It began with fifteen-year-old Brook Shields saying “What to know what’s between me and my Calvin’s? Nothing”. They have consistently been the target of complaints, yet they continue to be very successful clothing brand.
I’m a sexual person, and that’s reflected in my clothes and my advertisements-Calvin Klein
2. Calvin Klein’s Brief History Of Controversy
1980
In this 1980 Calvin Klein commercial, then-15-year-old Brooke Shields models the brand’s jeans and says, “Do you know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.” A short line but one that would become legendary — and controversial.
1993
Kate Moss appeared in a commercial and print ads for the brand’s perfume, Obsession. Some felt both the photos and the commercial were reflective of the “Heroin Chic” movement that was taking place at the time, and thus glamorized drug use. In fact, even former president Bill Clinton condemned other CK ads from the same decade.
1995
This 1995 ad campaign shot by Steven Meisel was one of the most controversial in the brand’s history. The ad, which featured models in what seemed like a wood-paneled basement, received tons of backlash. Parent groups, child welfare authorities, leads of the Catholic League, and the American Family Association felt that the images looked like child porn. The Justice Department was even forced to investigate into it. The investigation was eventually dropped, but only when Calvin Klein was able to prove that all the models were adults. And even then, the brand still pulled the ads.
1999
CK was criticized for this 1999 ad for kids underwear. It was believed that the black and white images of the young boys and girls were borderline child pornography. The president of the the American Family Association said the pictures were “nothing more than pornography.” “Whether you like it or not you have pedophiles in this society. Anything that could get them excited is detrimental, irresponsible and reckless,” he said.
2009
This one’s pretty self-explanatory. But in case you need some more explaining: The brand was under hot water for this 50-foot -tall billboard in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood because some believed it suggested foursome sex. In fact, some were so outraged that they said they’d boycott the company. The American Family Association went so far as launching an appeal on its websites and sending over 15,000 email complaints to Calvin Klein.
3. Damages Of Being Controversial
Tiger Woods
Brand value will not be the same after after his sex scandal in 2009. He may have been the best golfer in the world, but his image, and so far his golf game will never recover because of the depth of the scandal.
British Petroleum
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oilspill, the largest accidental release of oil into marine waters in history, resulted in severe environmental, health and economic consequences, and serious legal and public relations repercussions for the company.
Union Carbide
The Indian government and local activists argue that slack management and deferred maintenance created a situation where routine pipe maintenance caused a back-flow of water into a MIC tank, triggering the disaster. Any good brand image they had was destroyed on December 1984.
Gary Glitter
Glitter was arrested after a technician discovered pornographic images of children on the hard drive of a laptop that he had taken to a computer retailer in Bristol for repair. Further images were discovered by police in searches of his homes in London and Somerset.
Certainly nothing good can come to any brand that destroys the environment kills innocent people, lies to the society and abuse children. There is no hidden upside in such extreme controversy.
4. How Controversy Can Benefit A Brand
When a controversy speaks to the brands image
Calvin Klein fashions are all about sex, so generating controversy over sexually suggestive ads is perfectly inline with the brand image.
When controversy does not directly hurt anyone
As long as there is no direct link there would be no problem, like when Dire Straits say “faggot” it isn’t instantly measurable.
When controversy is temporary
Soon we’ll forget about the “Money For Nothing” lyrics again. All the brand controversies would come and go and come again.
When public opinion is likely on our side
Some things, like overt political correctness, can galvanize people around the brand. If we sense that public sentience is with us then a wave of controversy can be good.
When our story is solid
If a controversy erupts around our brand we can seize the moment and use the opportunity to tell our story
5. Summary
In this current digital age, hundreds of multi-media stories flood our minds every day. The stories we remember though, catch our attention because their subjects provoke controversy and deliberately violate our expectations. Individuals and companies use “Shock Marketing” tactics, believing that their controversial activities or marketing methods will spark interest in a wide population of readers and word will spread more rapidly than the traffic that typical news stories achieve. This enables people to build a greater audience and improve their business or personal brand.
