Have you seen the classic Dudley Moore movie CRAZY PEOPLE?
It was about a burned-out advertising executive that decided that Truth in Advertising was more important than lying to potential consumers about what a product could or couldn’t do.
Like the oft-quoted line about Volvo cars back in the day, “Boxy, but safe”. True on both accounts.
So what happens when you open up the floodgates of creativity for all products? What would the marketing creative folks come up with if give 100% free reign to pitch a product using imagery or tag lines that no reasonable ad exec would ever approve to move forward with?
That’s the premise behind the CHIP SHOP AWARDS, where they support “creativity with no limits”.
Now in its 10th year, the CHIP SHOP AWARDS are hosting their annual awards for the best (worst?) ads that people could come up with every June. They don’t necessarily want to see ad pitches that were rejected by the client in real-life — they want to see what creativity you can come up with if there were absolutely no restrictions placed on you.
Some of the tag lines from this year’s crop of entries include:
- HEINZ: “Makes anything easier to swallow”
- BENTLEY: “This car pollutes little, because just a few can afford it”
- DAZ: “Housewives deserve better than this filth”
- PANASONIC CAMERAS: “Shoot your girlfriend”
- VICKS VAPOR RUB: “Stop penetrating babies”
- NHS: “We’re not saying you’re fat, but if we had to pick five of the fattest people we knew, you would be three of them”
- KIT KAT: The “Jackson Five” edition, where each stick is a different color/flavor of chocolate.
Yeah, there’s not a lot that’s done in good taste, but when was advertising about taste?
If you could have free reign over a company’s advertising, with no consequences, what would you come up with?