Sprite Going With A 'Slut-Shaming' Ad Campaign In 2016 Is A Bold Creative Decision
BBC – Brutally refreshing? Or just brutal? Coca-Cola sparked a stinging reaction on social media with the latest installment of an advertising campaign for the soft drink Sprite, prompting the drinks giant to apologise and pull the ad.
The campaign, which uses the hashtag #BrutallyRefreshing, was launched in Ireland earlier this year and aimed at a mainly male audience.
It said it was “celebrating those with guts to tell it like it is”.
Some of the previous “truths” used included:
“We all have one tight friend”
“One dip is never enough”
“If you have to give your taxi driver directions, you’re better off walking”
while I’m sure some might file this under a “pussification of Ireland” trope, the crazy thing to me is that this campaign presumably went through dozens and dozens of people before running in all the various locations ads were displayed. And not a single one of the people who encountered the ads were like “Yeah no I get we want to be brash and cool and whatever but have you seen how angry people online get over every single thing? Maybe we should play it safe so we can actually sell soda” at some point. Like an average joe tomorrow could go on Twitter and say something innocuous completely jokingly and, if it hits the right notes, have his head on a virtual platter within six hours flat as his perceived-misogynistic comment works its way through the internet judgment machine. And this is a MULTINATIONAL COMPANY RUNNING ADS and they think they’ll just be able to sell things to dudes who like high fiving their bro soda before drinking it and not catch any heat from all the women out there with eyes. It blows my mind how you can fuck up like that in these times with this many people involved in the process.
And I don’t know about you guys but for me I couldn’t give less of a fuck about how cool or edgy my soda is. Why do companies think people are going to buy a soda to be pals with it? I don’t get a Sprite so I can sit around and talk shit about bitches and have the can asking to smell my finger and whatever. I get a Sprite or Diet Coke or any soda because I hate myself and the boring taste of water and as a result am willing to ignore years of data and basic common sense that says drinks made out of a chemistry set aren’t great for you. Accept that relationship for what it is and keep your hypotheses on talkin’ tang to yourself, Sprite.