Sacrilege
By Stephen Armstrong
1 Is Volkswagen bold or stupid? complicated than that. success lies in knowing its target.
Across France, workmen have 5 Virginia Valentine, director of ‘In marketing terms the only real
been busy scraping off 10,000 advertising’s foremost cultural taboo is upsetting the people you
billboard advertisements for its analysis company, Semiotic want to buy your product,’ he says.
new Golf following furious Solutions, argues that brands can ‘As long as it’s legal and the client
complaints from the Catholic no longer expect consumers to take is OK with it, you can offend
Church. In a series of posters, the sales messages at face value”. anyone else and in many ways you
German carmaker’s model was Consumers challenge everything should. I’d normally see
likened to a religious revelation; they are told, she believes, and will outrageous advertising as a youth
one that showed Jesus at the last prefer brands that give them proposition though, and I think
supper recommending the car to something back, rather than the VW’s mistake may have been in
his disciples. old-style ‘here’s our product ain’t selling a product that isn’t a youth
2 VW’s agency DDB Needham it great!’ philosophy which has product with this kind of style.
doubtless thought its advertising dominated advertising since its Young people are receptive to
was ironic and extremely up-to- inception. Thus ads can deal with taboo-breaking as they are more
date. After all, the admen social issues and refer to the news open-minded than older people. I
presumably figured, if outrageous” agenda these days. Inevitably, think they positively welcome
advertising worked for the likes of though, it can go horribly wrong. advertising that annoys their
Benetton, it could work to revive ‘The risk is, and I think this is true parents.’ Some agency creatives
the image of the Golf, which is in the case of Volkswagen, that if argue that young people today are
frankly rather old-fashioned. you use images of faith and fundamentally different from
3 After the Catholic Church prostitute them, people will take previous generations in their
threatened to sue” for Ffr 3.3 m offence. It’s all very well if you internationalism, and young
($550,000) to obtain reparation for give them something back, but it is consumers in Tel Aviv are closer
the damage suffered by Christians, clear that Jesus could not have to their counterparts” in Paris, New
the agency and the carmaker benefited from that poster York and Sydney than they are to
confessed to their sins and agreed campaign.’ their parents.
to remove the ads. ‘We have no 6 The ad agency, however, may 9 As this generation grows up, the
disrespect for the fundamental well have done. The VW campaign argument goes, they will continue
values of society nor for the beliefs might look like a marketing to be more broad-minded than
of the faithful,’ said a disaster, but increasingly ad their parents and will see the
spokesperson for DDB Needham. agencies are selling to clients not shattering of taboos as the norm.
‘We decided to retract the posters simply their ability to write ads but So outrageous advertising will no
immediately in order to show our their ability to write ads that longer be limited to those products
respect for the faith and the generate PR. Some clients ask all which target youth.
feelings expressed by certain agencies pitching for their business 10 Perhaps Volkswagen was just
believers.’ The agency’s penance” to to demonstrate their ability to ahead of its time, advertising to a
has included making a substantial garner” extra publicity. market that wasn’t broad-minded
donation to a Catholic charity. 7 A deliberately shocking ad is the enough in a country that still gets
4 European consumers are exposed simplest way to get additional nervous when Church and State
to hundreds of commercial media coverage, and even if the are challenged. Or perhaps VW’s
messages a day, but the vast media coverage is negative, it can collision with Catholics shows that
majority of these are ignored, so still help to sell the product as for all their claimed acumen”, ad
ads which shock have become advertisers like Benetton have agencies are less in touch” with the
more popular with advertisers. It is already proved. public mood than they claim.
believed that these ads force 8 One supporter of Benetton’s
consumers to listen to their work is Leon Jaume, Deputy
message. But some adland thinkers Creative Director of ad agency The European
argue that it’s a little more Ogilvy & Mather, who believes its
*outrageous: very shocking *to garner: to collect
*to sue: to claim money because you have been harmed *a counterpart: a similar person in a
*penance: suffering to show you are sorry different place
*to take s.t.h at face value: to accept s.th. without thinking *acumen: the ability to make good
judgments
*to be in touch with: to understand
Reading: Read the text opposite about controversial advertising. Do you think the VW
campaign was successful?
Read the text in more detail and choose the best answer.
1. Which of the following is least likely to be one of the reasons why Volkswagen ran a deliberately
provocative campaign?
a) to generate media coverage of the campaign.
b) to shock some members of society.
c) to show their lack of respect for the Catholic Church.
2. Using taboo images in advertising has become popular with advertising executives mainly
because
a) they only want to target young people.
b) consumers have stopped paying attention to conventional advertising.
c) products are becoming more international and sophisticated.
3. According to the text, shocking advertising is
a) always damaging for the advertiser.
b) always damaging for the ad agency.
c) the simplest way to get media coverage.
4. According to Leon Jaume, the young generation of consumers like ads
a) with an international flavour.
b) that offend them.
c) that offend their parents.
5.The author of the text suggests that
a) perhaps Volkswagen isn't broad-minded enough.
b) admen are not doing enough market research before running campaigns.
c) Volkswagen wanted to break taboos in France.
Vocabulary: Find words or expressions in the text which correspond to the following
definitions.
1. a public space reserved for advertisers to put their ads on (para 1)
b___________
2. large pictures or notices put up in a public place to advertise something (para 1)
p___________
3. human interest subjects (para 5)
s___________ i ___________
4. people or companies who pay for a professional service (para 6)
c___________
5. try to win a business deal (para 6)
to p___________ f_____ b___________
6. time and space given by the media to a particular news item (para 7)
c___________
7. the person in charge of developing ideas for advertising campaigns (para 8)
c___________ d___________
8. a social custom which means a particular activity or subject must be avoided (para 8)
t___________
Reading: Sacrilege
1. advertisement (ad/advert) рекламное объявление
2. billboard /AmE/ (=Hoarding /BrE) рекламный щит
3. poster рекламный плакат
4. admen рекламисты/рекламщики
5. spokesperson for sb представитель к-л, уполномоченный сделать заявление
идея / сообщение / посыл рекламного объявления
6. commercial message / sales message
7. advertiser
рекламодатель
8. ad agency
рекламное агентство
9. to get media coverage
освещение в СМИ
10. pitch for sb’s business
стремиться заключить сделку/получить контракт
11. generate PR
способствовать огласке
12. get extra publicity
получить дополнительную огласку, освещение в СМИ
13. Deputy Creative Director
зам. директора по рекламе
14. to target youth
избрать целевой группой молодежь
15. creatives / agency creatives
творческие сотрудники агентства
16. youth proposition (= offer)
предложение для молодежи
Reading: "Sacrilege"
1. outrageous advertising реклама, вызывающая возмущение
deliberately shocking ad намеренно шокирующее рекламное объявление
2. conventional advertising традиционная реклама
3. revive the image of sth обновить, оживить имидж ч-л
4. sue for$... подать иск на сумму
5. obtain reparation for sth получить возмещение за ч-л
6. damage suffered by sb ущерб, понесенный к-л
7. the fundamental values of society основные ценности общества
8. make a substantial donation to a charity сделать крупное пожертвование благотворительной
организации
9. be exposed to sth подвергаться ч-л
10. take sth at face value принимать ч-л на веру
11. to challenge sth (=to doubt sth) подвергать сомнению
12. to deal with social issues заниматься социальными вопросами
13. refer to the news agenda упоминать / обращаться к важным вопросам
14. inevitably неизбежно
15. benefit from sth (= take advantage of) получить выгоду / пользу от ч-л
16. increasingly (= more and more) все больше и больше
17. be receptive to taboo-breaking быть восприимчивым к нарушению табу / запретов
18. counterpart здесь - ровесник
также - зарубежный коллега, визави
19. claim sth заявить ч-л
