Most of us, possibly, tend to believe that major brands perform better in endorsing their brands. However, certain incidents that have taken place in history claim us wrong and provide lessons for the current branding efforts of businesses. This article aims to discuss insights into a known advertisement promoted by Audi in the Chinese market in 2017.
What happened in the failed Audi advertisement?
In this particular Audi ad, the bride and groom stand ready to exchange vows, and the groom's mother approaches with a keen eye. She explores the bride's features, from nose to ear and even inside her mouth.
With a nod of approval, the couple breathes a sigh of relief, yet the mother steals one last glance towards the bride's chest. Anxiously, the bride shields it with her hands. Suddenly, the scene shifts to a vibrant red Audi gliding through bustling city streets, accompanied by the tagline, “An important decision must be made carefully."
What does Audi want to communicate?
Audi's campaign aimed to showcase their properly-inspected secondhand cars. They wanted to emphasise the importance of inspecting a car before buying. However, the message got a bit mixed up.
Audi hoped to draw a humorous appeal by using a wedding scene as a metaphor. They wanted to bring attention to the ironic humour created through the commercial and apply it to the thought process of car buyers. Eventually, it ended up Audi apologising and withdrawing their ad campaign.
What went wrong?
While a portion of the audience understood the precise message the advertiser intended to convey, the majority of the world responded to the ad negatively. According to the prevailing critique, Audi attempted to draw a comparison between the concept of used vehicles and women, thereby objectifying women in general. According to them, this undermines the value of women and publicly humiliates ethical and social standards.
On the other hand, some comments aimed at an attempt to discriminate against the Chinese customs that parents dominate in controlling young people’s relationships and marriages.
Whatsoever, even though the ad was launched in the Chinese market, protests against the campaign came from the entire world. Ultimately, due to the global outcry over ethical concerns, Audi had to take down the ad.
Marketing insights of the article
This real-world example of Audi presents a great deal of direction and insights for any marketer.
- The very first takeaway is that marketers shouldn’t assume that everyone sees what marketers see, always. You must get quality and logical opinions on your advertising message by sharing it with a diverse & balanced audience.
- A marketer should always be driven by the senses. The senses that read the culture and the society it was built up. With relevance to Audi’s incident, a marketer should be able to draw a thin line of humour, which separates humiliation from the entertainment of the common man.
- Most importantly, a marketer shouldn’t use a controversial or potentially sensitive topic in the marketing campaigns. Thus, this may be a trump card for a competitor at any given point in time and leaves room to attack badly.
- Finally, a marketer shouldn’t have a doubt about what he/ she does. Simply put, the marketing campaigns should be executed with zero doubts. Doubts will become chaos and diminish the marketer’s confidence in the campaign.
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