Friday, January 21, 2011

You can't have it so you must have it: A quick note on advertising.

I guess I'll just keep posting on here since 305 is done and I need somewhere to vent about media related things.


                                                                    


When the Gossip Girl campaign came out with ads saying things like "Every parent's nightmare" and "A nasty piece of work" I thought it was pretty clever. Reverse psychology done nicely. I mean, who wouldn't be interested in a show that was scandalizing the upper echelons of the "Parent's Television Council"? I was! It was sexy in a scandalous way. MTV's new show Skins on the other hand? I think their advertising is pretty ridiculous. I mean, I get it. Totally. "Skins is so hardcore and badass that we don't care if you watch or like it or not. We are young, sexy, fabulous, and so drugged up we can't remember our first or last names!" Except they do care. They have to. And telling viewers that their show is "sh*t" doesn't exactly seem like the most carefully thought out move.  Anyway, there's a difference between the two campaigns even if they are predicated upon the same idea. I think the Gossip Girl one was basically effective whereas I think the Skins one is just annoying... With a show like Skins, you don't need the captions or the hype. Everyone knows that sex sells...




Ad from original campaign for UK Skins on E4. Not the best show ever, but definitely addictive.