Clean Cut Media » Advertising

Black Friday & Cyber Monday Sales Hits New Records

cleancutmedia — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:17:37 +0000

Black Friday & Cyber Monday Sales Hit New Records

Online Shopping for Black Friday once again broke all previous records with sales of $816 million, up 26% compared to 2010. Even Thanksgiving Day (November 24th) which traditionally is a low sales day, saw a 18% increase in sales to $479 million.

Cyber Monday is estimated to have produced $1.25 billion dollars in sales (according to ComScore), up 22% from Cyber Monday 2010 which also was a record at the time. Last year we were stunned as Cyber Monday exceeded 1 Billion. However the sales continue to roll in. Other surveys conducted by IBM and eBay found even greater increases of 33% and 25% respectively. It’s final. Americans are spending more and more each year. Doesn’t matter if the economy is down, people will buy what they want.

Black Friday Sales Statistics at $816 Million

Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target & Apple Leads the Way

Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, and Apple were the top 5 most visited retailer properties during Black Friday. 50 million Americans were out and about, visiting retail stores to search for the best Black Friday deals. These visitors accounted for a 35% increase in visits versus 2010.

A source from Apple Retail has shared that Apple’s forecast for Black Friday was 4X the normal sales levels. However, by 7PM, Apple had already blown past those forecasts fueled through big ticket items like the iPad and MacBook Air sales.

Other Black Friday Sales & Visit Statistics

Mobile devices accounted for 14.3% of all online Black Friday traffic, up 5.6% and responsible for 9.8% of online sales.
Ecommerce sales were up 59% compared to last year.
Black Friday mentions on Facebook & Twitter was up 110%.

Cyber Monday Sales Statistics – Tops $1.25 Billion!

On Cyber Monday, the average American consumer spent $198.26, up 2.6% from 2010. That’s nearly $200 dollars a person folks. More than 1 in 10 people used a mobile device to do research while about 6.6% of sales took place on the mobile device itself. This is 3X compared to 2010.

Mind Boggling Numbers: What do you think?

Any of these statistics surprise you? Disturb you?
Were you able to find anything good on Black Friday or Cyber Monday?

Black Friday 2011: What’s the Buzz (in Social Media) [Infographic]

cleancutmedia — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 17:52:41 +0000

Black Friday – Billion Dollar Business

In 2010, 212 million people spent around $45 billion dollars on Black Friday alone. As social media continues to grow and become mainstream, social media mediums such as Facebook and Twitter has become a huge source of buzz and announcements for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

So what is the buzz on Black Friday?
What are people talking about?
Where are they headed?

Where are people planning to shop?

Walmart: 21%
Best Buy: 20%
Target: 13%
Macy: 11%
Amazon: 10%
Kmart: 9% (Kmart is still alive!?)

I'm so excited to buy stuff for myself!!!

Who will they buy it for?

Themselves: 46% (selfish!)
Others: 36% (aww…)
Both: 18% (feeling justified?)

What will they buy on Black Friday?

Computers / Tablets: 18% (iPads & Macbook Pro)
DVD / Music / Video: 17% (Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Call of Duty: MW3)
Shoes: 16% (Black Air Jordan Cements 3s, Black Air Yeezy 2)
Clothes: 14% (Polo Ralph Lauren, The Northface)
TVs: 12% (Flat Screen, 3D)
Cell Phones & Cameras: 9% (iPhone 4S, Galaxy Nexus, Evo 4G)

“In a recent study, 69% of shoppers stated that they trust the Internet for information on products and services (versus 43% who said magazines, and 35% who said TV). And 55% of shoppers say they’re less impulsive shoppers because of the Internet – they now take the time to research.”

Tablets: iPad vs Kindle Fire

10:1 - For every time Kindle Fire is mentioned on social media, iPad is mentioned 10 times the amount. As shoppers tend to discuss the brands and items they desire on social media, this is a trend that is noteworthy.

Anyone planning to get an iPad or Kindle Fire?

Black Friday Statistics Infographic!

What are you buying this Black Friday?

Do you end up buying something you need, or something you didn’t really need at all!

Dr. Pepper Ten Commercial – Not for Women

cleancutmedia — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:00:13 +0000

Dr Pepper Ten Commercial says NOT FOR WOMEN!

Coke has Coke Zero, Pepsi has Pepsi Max, and so Dr Pepper now has Dr Pepper TEN. Dr Pepper TEN caused quiet a stir from it’s launch due to the funny and semi-controversial ad. The TV commercial shows a mini-action film where a manly man drives through the dangerous jungle, Dr Pepper TEN in one hand, while shooting enemies and punching snakes with the other. It is action packed and ends with the quote “NOT FOR WOMEN.” Dr Pepper has taken a unique position of catering the drink to men, who perhaps view diet drinks as unmanly.

Are Diet Drinks too Unmanly?

Many years ago, Miller Brewing Company came out with Miller Lite, a beer with less calories. Great for those who wanted to avoid the beer belly and wanted to watch their weight. Yet there was real concern that men wouldn’t want to be associated with diet drinks because perhaps it wasn’t very manly. Miller chose to launch a bunch of TV commercials depicting manly men like Bubba Smith, Joe Frazier, and Ben Davidson to endorse the drinks and start arguing over different topics such as whether lite beer has “great taste” and “less filling.” By using manly men as well as focusing the argument over taste and body, Miller was able to divert the attention away from whether it was manly or not. To top it off, these ads would sometimes have these manly men argue then jump into a bar brawl. These series of ads are often ranked as one of the best ad campaigns in history. The ad campaign was a great success as nobody ever though of lite beer as unmanly.

Is the Dr Pepper Ten Commercial Controversial?

The commercials caused a stir. Some people find it offensive and exclusionary especially due to the tagline “not for women.” Others think it’s simply funny and there is no real harm done. Just like certain shampoos or deodorants target women, many feel it’s not a big deal to just target men. One thing we can all agree on is that it has drawn the attention it intended do. The Facebook page has been buzzing with a lot of back and forth between the two camps. Women put up pictures of themselves drinking Dr Pepper TEN while others argue that it’s discriminating.

I personally don’t take much offense to the commercial mainly because it doesn’t degrade woman in anyway. It’s just a product focusing on a specific target group. I don’t like the fact that it plays on stereotypes of men, but so far the ads haven’t been offensive in anyway. Just to give perspective, I find those AXE ad campaigns highly offensive to women. Another product targeting men, but often degrading women in the progress. Dr Pepper TEN so far doesn’t do the latter.

How does Dr Pepper TEN Taste vs. Diet Dr Pepper?

But the real question is, how does it taste? Diet Dr Pepper has always been one of the better diet drinks that does an excellent job retaining the flavor of the original. Coke Zero is another. How about Dr Pepper TEN? I had one for the first time this week. It’s excellent. I actually like it slightly better than the Diet version. Plus I feel more manly. Just kidding. Don’t need a drink for that.

Watch the commercial below and tell us what you think!

Offensive? OK?
Men – does the ad make you want to drink it?
Women – does the ad make you want to drink it.. simply because it says not for women

Dr Pepper TEN Not for Women Commercial

“Skinny Water” says Skinny Always Gets the Attention

cleancutmedia — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 23:19:10 +0000

Skinny Water Says “Skinny Always Gets the Attention

A recent Skinny Water advertising poster shows a lady standing before a throng of photographers with the headline “Skinny Always Gets the Attention.” Basically the message is that one assured way of getting attention is to be skinny. Normally low-calorie drink producers tend to market as a “healthy alternative” highlighting drinks that are low in calorie but high in vitamins. Skinny Water takes a completely different approach by simply saying, you need to be skinny, so drink a zero calorie drink.

Take a look at the AD below. Let us know – What is your gut reaction!?
(Note: How about Starbucks calling their low fat custom drinks “skinny”… different?)

Skinny Water Ad – Skinny Always Gets the Attention

Message: You know you like the attention. You want it? Skinny is how you get it.

Skinny Water Ad – Strut Your Skinny

Message: Being Skinny is valuable. It’s worth showing off. Be proud of being skinny.

Skinny Water Ad – Life Can Feel This Good

Message: Life Can Feel This Good… if you are Skinny. Bottom says “Love the Skinny Life.”

We ask again. What is your gut reaction!?

NOTE: Skinny Water pulled this campaign for obvious reasons. Smart move, though the damage is done.

After that, check out another skinny centric campaign that started great controversy: Pretzel Crisps Skinny Campaign. That was also pulled…

Pretzel Crisp says “You Can Never Be Too Thin”

“Plot Device” Viral Video by Red Giant Software

cleancutmedia — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 01:53:16 +0000

Plot Device Viral Video by Red Giant Software

Check out this viral video from Red Giant Software highlighting the use of their Professional Video Tool, Magic Bullet Suite 11. It’s well done and fun to watch! Not only is it fun, but it actually shows you the capabilities of the product itself. Magic Bullet Suite 11 is a tool with built in visual effect plug-ins that are easily implemented into any video product. The company brought in an indie filmmaker named Seth Worley to create this piece called “Plot Device” to show off some the different visual effects. Love sharing some good clean advertising!

Magic Bullet Suite 11 is professional toolkit for filmmakers designed by film director Stu Maschwitz. I highly recommend this product for anyone working on a budget or desire Hollywood quality results for their short films and videos. It’s convenient, easy to use, and really makes things look awesome with very little effort. Magic Bullet Suite helps with color grading, color treatment, removing noise, and adding tons of simple effects such as adding specific glows, lighting, flares, vignettes, shadows and so on.

Intel – The Chase Commercial

Agency: Venables Bell & Partners

Another well made commercial created by Intel to build up buzz around the 2nd eneration Intel® Core™ i5 processor. It is another video where an fun action spot is created but has the dual purpose of showing of the performance capabilities of the product itself. It isn’t as well-done as the previous video, but clever none the less and a creative idea worth sharing.

Know of other well made commercials that serve the dual purpose of showing of the product?
Please share in comments!

Kohler Numi Bidet Toilet for $6400

cleancutmedia — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 01:35:34 +0000

Summary of the Brokenness of our World

What has the world come to…

Kohler Numi Bidet Toilet

Don’t wait too long! You can’t sit on this forever! It’s a $6,400 toilet called “Numi”. It’s a “Smart Toilet” by Kohler that pretty much does everything and anything you never thought you wanted your toilet to do. I can do with a warm toilet seat, but different seat positions, water pressures, ambient lighting, foot warmer, air dryer, touch screen remote control, mp3 player? I ain’t touching that mp3 player.

Don't Touch That! Very Expensive!

It’s a Fashion Statement for the Luxurious

David Kohler, president and COO of the Wisconsin-based Kohler company, says “the luxury market’s coming back in this country and (is) very strong in other parts of the world. This product is targeted at those consumers who want the best — they want the latest in design and technology (and) want a fashion statement in their home.”

Basically, we live in a country so wealthy, that dropping several thousand dollars down the toilet (oh yes puns very so intended) on a toilet seat for things you never thought you needed and still don’t need is actually realistic enough to build a business around. In the name of fashion? It’s so sad…

The Touchscreen I Never Want to Touch

Not only that, the feel of the commercial really tries to make the viewer feel like they luxury is good, something to be had and desired.

Do we really need to spend more and more on ourselves just because it’s available to us?
What is reasonable and when is it going to far?
How do we know when it is too much?

If it breaks, I don’t know if I should call the plumber or the computer geek next door.

What is wrong with your toilet?
Maybe I am running out of memory?
Have you tried rebooting it?

I am waiting someone to say April Fools, but… it’s not coming. It’s just so.. wasteful.

PLEASE SHARE – what is your thoughts on all this?

Selling Products or Selling Lifestyle?

Volkswagen Super Bowl & Verizon Commercials

cleancutmedia — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 19:08:58 +0000

Little Darth Vadar Stop the Volkswagen Car!

Clean Cut TV Commercials

Here at Clean Cut Media, we not only talk about bad influences of media, but we try to balance it out by promoting good media. We like clean movies, we like clean & awesome commercials, and are happy for the companies that promote such media. Media is part of life folks, just a matter of knowing what to consume, not to consume, and of course how much we should be consuming. Below are a few recent commercials with some buzz that are clean cut and well made.

Volkswagen’s Super Bowl Commercial: Darth Vader

Volkswagen did something most companies would not have thought of. Reveal their Super Bowl commercial before the Super Bowl! One may think, why? It takes away from the hype! Oh, but I see this as a good move on their part. In about 2 days, it already has 6 million views as it gets passed along virally, hogging all the attention, riding on the hype of all the anticipation. Good move Volkswagen. Also kudos on the nice, simple, clean cut commercial. The Video shows little Darth Vadar in his attempts to use the force. Watch it!

Of course the commercial says nothing about the car at all. Just trying to associate warm fuzzy feeling with the car and brand. That is the state of advertising folks!

iPhone Verizon vs AT&T Commercials

A clear shot at it’s “rival” AT&T. You have to love the simplicity of this ad, yet it indirectly emphasizes their differentiator – their reputation as the best network. It builds their reputation and continues to link the idea that Verizon’s service is clearly better than AT&Ts. It doesn’t directly attack anyone, but pokes a bit of fun, bringing out that “ooooHH” feeling we get when someone has a good witty, comeback. Or maybe it’s just me.

Meanwhile Apple laughs at all the excellent publicity they are getting as the two networks dual it out. Apple is the ultimate winner.

I also enjoyed their trailer video. Simple, Clean “cut”, and to the point:

Oh and some old clean Super Bowl commercials from last year.

What do you think about these commercials?
What did you like and not like about them?

Cyber Monday Spending Exceeds $1 Billion

cleancutmedia — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 19:53:46 +0000

Cyber Monday Spending Exceeds $1 Billion

Wow. 1.028 Billion Dollars. That’s a lot of money. You would think with the “economic crisis” and the ridiculously high unemployment rate (9%+ for past year), people would spend less. Are we sure our economy is down?

ComScore released fresh data that showed this past Cyber Monday was the biggest online spending day in history by breaking the $1 billion mark. The data shows a 16% rise in spending from last year near $1.028 billion in total online spending.

How Can People Spend So Much!?

Now let’s keep in mind that the internet is still growing. Ecommerce is still relatively young and companies are getting better and better at presenting their products, making it easy to purchase and advertising their products. For example, have you ever visited some site, only to suddenly see ads for that site everywhere you go? In fact not only the ad for the site, but for the products you were searching for? Then you start getting emails highlighting those products just when you start to think about it again? “It’s like they know exactly what I want and am thinking!”

That’s called remarketing. It’s pretty awesome tool as a marketer, a little freaky to consumers, but ultimately it does a more granular job of targeting consumers.

So as the internet online shopping grows, so will these figures. Don’t be surprised to see more billion dollar days before the end of the year. Also keep in mind that there might be a lot of people who are simply choosing to shop online versus shopping in store. Lot of factors to consider when looking at statistics such as these.

More Online Spending Statistics

4% more people are shopping online (9 million)
Shoppers are averaging 10% more per transaction ($60.05)
Bazillion lost in worker productivity (my estimate)

Half of all dollars spend on online purchases were made from work computers especially as retailers used a lot of different strategies to keep getting users to come back to their site with numerous smaller sales for different parts of the day.

There was also clear trends to continue strong sales throughout the weekend, into Cyber Monday, then through the following week. Black Friday came in at $658 Million and the following Thanksgiving Weekend Sat & Sun came in around $400-$450 each which was a whopping 28% higher spend than last year.

Confession Time – How Much of the 1 Billion was You!

Don’t have to share everything, but if your willing let us know!

What did you buy for Cyber Monday?
How much did you spend?
Did you spend more than last year?
Where did you shop the most online? Amazon? Apple?
What is your first impression hearing people spend over $1 billion dollars!

Pretzel Crisp says “You Can Never Be Too Thin”

cleancutmedia — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:00:23 +0000

Disclaimer: The narrator in the video calls the campaign “bull****” at the of the video.

You Can Never be Too Thin – Pretzel Crisp

In early August, Pretzel Crisp launched an an ad campaign in New York City with several slogans including “You can never be too thin”. The ad was found everywhere from ad stands to bus stands and in subway stations. Immediately the news took hold of the blogosphere spread the the power of social media, but the attention was clearly not the attention Pretzel Crisp intended.

Photos of the ad was posted on a women’s blog called Jezebel followed by a scathing and condemning posts angry at the implications of such a message: “you can never be too thin”. The slogan was brought up as a “thinspiration” motto used by the pro-anorexic community. It was deemed wrong and completely irresponsible as it promotes unhealthy weight loss. The photo was posted and reposted on numerous blogs and spread through articles, tweets and videos from other bloggers.

Pretzel Crisp’s Response to Thin Message

The company responded to the flurry with a tweet on it’s twitter account. The response? “Thin just happens to be a good word to describe the shape of our product.” As the issue became bigger and bigger, the VP of Marketing started to show up on interviews with bloggers to explain the situation. He explained that they were a small company and simply wanted to launch an attention grabbing ad. Well if that was the goal, they achieved what they wanted!

Pretzel Crisp soon tweeted that “We didn’t intend to advocate unhealthy weight loss with our ads. Thanks to all for the feedback. The ads will be taken down asap.” The people rejoiced. Justice was served, or so they thought. The ads were replaced with one of the other pro-anorexic play on words, “Taste as good as skinny feels”.

Outrage ensued again, but this time Pretzel’s response was that “you can never be too thin” was but one of four slogans and only that particular ad had negative responses. So they did the logical thing to replace that particular ad with one of the other three.

A week later, the company finally agreed to take down all their ads.

Many bloggers feel that this may have been a publicity stunt to raise more awareness of their brand. Though I am certain they were not expecting this level of response.

Thoughts on Pretzel Crisp’s Ads

My opinion?

It seems like Pretzel just made a really bad mistake. They thought they had a clever advertising motto as they tried to convey their Pretzels’ thin shape. They did the right thing in quickly responding to the criticisms and taking action. Where they made the mistake was claiming ignorance in saying they only thought one of their ads were causing the problem. If they would have taken them all down, the impression they would have left with people could have been very different.

But I don’t think they had any intention of promoting a pro-anorexic message. Also as exciting as the idea of them plotting this as a publicity stunt – it unlikely they did that as well. Not with a touchy subject such as anorexia.

Take our Poll! Let us know how you feel in comments!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

What is your opinion?
Intentional or a Bad Mistake?
Does this ad anger you?

Tim Tebow’s CBS Pro-Life Super Bowl Ad Battle on Facebook

cleancutmedia — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:00:57 +0000

Tim Tebow’s Pro-Life Super Bowl Ad

Have you ever heard of a viral video that no one has seen? A group called Focus on the Family has shot a pro-life spot featuring the college superstar and former Heisman Winner Tim Tebow. The spot will star Tim Tebow and his mother who will discuss how she went against the doctor’s advice to abort her son due to a life threatening infection. After contracting a dangerous infection during a mission trip to the Philippines, doctors recommended she terminate her pregnancy, fearing she might die during childbirth. They named their son “Timmy” who later was known to the world as Tim Tebow, the University of Florida’s Quarterback who led his team to national championships in 2006 and 2008. He also won the Heisman Trophy in 2007.

Tim Tebow is the biggest star in college football, if not considered one of the greatest college football player to ever play at that level. He is also known for being born in the Philippines while his parents were in the mission field and still frequently joins his father on mission trips there. He also ministers to prisoners during the off-season.

As soon as this news broke out, women’s group started to ask CBS to drop the ad. So far CBS has declined their request.

“I know some people won’t agree with it, but I think they can at least respect that I stand up for what I believe… that’s the reason I’m here, because my mom was a very courageous woman. So any way that I could help, I would do it.” – Tim Tebow

CBS’s Stance on Controversial Super Bowl Ads

CBS has run into similar controversies before. Back in 2004, CBS had rejected a Super Bowl ad from a “liberal-leaning United Church of Christ” that highlighted their welcoming stance towards gays and others who felt shunned by conservative chruches. This ad would be one of the first advocacy ads accepted by CBS during the big game.

When CBS was asked to comment on their current stance of allowing this ad to air, they replied that their past stance of rejecting any controversial ad as they saw fit “did not reflect public sentiment or industry norms”.

“We have for some time moderated our approach to advocacy submissions after it became apparent that our stance did not reflect public sentiment or industry norms.” – Dana McClintock CBS Spokesperson

Growing Discussions on Facebook and Twitter

One of the interesting developments, is with the rise of social media, this topic has resulted in tons of discussions and activities in sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Both sides have started to form groups, throwing their support for or against this ad. Below are the largest growing groups on Facebook:

Americans United for Life Action – Facebook Group Supporting Ad (43,500+ Members)
Facebook Group Supporting Ad 2 (31,2001+ Members)
Facebook Group Against Ad (7200+ Members)

Twitter Activity on "Tebow" Search since News Broke

Online buzz is continuing to ramp up and will inevitably become larger as Super Bowl Sunday nears. The question is what will CBS do? Freedom of Speech? Avoid the Controversy? One thing that is certain – once it airs, it will spread quickly across the web and there will be numerous discussions over this video spot. The discussions are already heating up.

What do you think? Should CBS Air the Super Bowl Ad?

Should CBS air this ad?
Should CBS have aired the ad from 2004?
Should controversial ads be allowed to air? Why or Why not?

Another interesting point noted by a commenter on the web:

Since the mother made her “choice” would this still fall under a celebration of “pro-choice” or is that at this point just semantics and “pro-choice” is just support for abortion? (this is assuming the ad doesn’t attack the idea of choice)

Share your thoughts! We’d like to know.

Photoshop Celebrities at Kaiserdamm Metro Station

cleancutmedia — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:00:02 +0000

Check out these photos of billboards put up at Kaiserdamm metro station in Berlin, Germany. The original ad was for Britney Spears, Leona Lewis, and Christina Aguilera’s new albums. However Mr. Tailon, Baveux Prod., Kone, & Epox put up giant photoshop stickers to transform this giant ad into a “street art”.

Pretty clever, though it is still vandalism.

Wasn’t this a pretty clever stunt?

Vandalism or Deserved?

AMP UP Pepsi Iphone App – “Before You Score”

cleancutmedia — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:23:38 +0000

AMP UP / Pepsi Iphone App “Before You Score” Gone too Far?

Pepsi has been known as a company not afraid to push limits and try out new innovative methods in reaching it’s potential consumers. Have they gone to far?

“Before You Score” AMP UP

AMP’s latest attempt to utilize social media became a huge controversial issue. AMP is an energy drink company owned by Pepsi. They have always utilized guy-centric advertising focusing on extreme sports and women. Their marketing approach is a tamer version of another company called AXE who uses extremely risque and degrading advertising.

AMP launched an Iphone app called “before you score” that helps men score with women. Within the application itself, the app breaks down women into 24 categories and provides various pickup lines and suggestions. Examples of such categories are “Rebound Girl”, “Twins”, “Foreign Exchange Student” and even “Married”. Depending on the type of person she is, it is suggesting specific things to say as well can be used to find specific places to eat. The whole point is to convince the subject that you share her interest with the overall goal of getting them into bed. The iTunes store has a description that says “roadmap to success with your favorite kinds of women”.

Let’s think about the culture pepsi is promoting here.

Utilize woman’s naivety
Rebound Girl? Get them while they are vulnerable
Married? – Speaks for itself
All you need is the right words and moves
It is normal and fun to try to seduce and take advantage of woman.
The point of these encounters is to “score”
“Helps getting success with favorite kinds of women.” – It isn’t to “connect” with a WOMAN, but “success” with various women?

The stance by Pepsi and their supporters is simple – AMP was just doing something humorous and it shouldn’t be taken seriously. However I would argue that it is exactly these type of things that influence what we view to be the norm of culture. When we watch promiscuous lifestyles on TV, watch racy music videos, suggestive commercials and see an app that tells you, it’s fun to pick up woman – yes it can be humorous but at what cost? There was a time a company would not even dream of producing such an app but the media has helped shift the culture dramatically over the past 10 years. It is possible for a person to play with it just for it’s humor value – but the kind of culture Pepsi is highlighting is simply degrading to woman. It is a testament to our current culture that there would even be a debate an app about trying to sleep with women is acceptable.

Don’t just Score. Brag about it! Tell Your Friends

But it doesn’t stop there. It also has a feature that allows the user to brag about their successes over Email, Facebook or Twitter. It is literally a “brag” button. The app’s description says to “flaunt” your conquests and create a “Brag List” they have gotten “lucky” with. Share your conquest with all your friends. Let’s further review the message:

Women are objects of conquest
“Scoring” is good, something to be proud about
It’s ok to brag about your sex life, forget how it affects the other person

AMP Pepsi clearly was hoping to create a lot buzz – it did. There were a fair share of people who enjoyed the app, but many who were upset and offended. AMP ended up apologizing for the App – “if” it offended anybody. However they did not pull down the app until many days later after more pressure had mounted.

Various Responses to Pepsi AMP Iphone App

Well, Pepsi got what it wanted. Everyone across the online world and the offline started to discuss whether Pepsi had gone too far. Far more interesting then the app itself, was the varying responses. It really clues us into the worldview of our current culture.

Below are some comments from various sites.
Think about what kind of worldview the commentors have about the culture they live in and what they consider to be is right and wrong, acceptable and unacceptable.

Amp UP “Before You Score” was a Bad Idea

“[Apology?] too late for that! But honestly, the world considers this type of behavior normal.”

“What a bunch of fools. Even their twitter ‘apology’ uses the crass phrase ‘… pick up women.’ when they could have chosen something more appropriate like “… connect with a woman.”

It’s not a full apology when you use the word “if,” blame the offended for being offended, and continue the activity for which you are apologizing.

Does anyone notice, everyone is condemning the lack of tact in their apology but not the app itself? I also agree the apology was very general and AMP never took ownership over what they did. They pointed at the people offended and simply said sorry if it happen to offend you. Here is a little more transparent translation: “We don’t think what we did was wrong, we were just trying to be funny, but hey if your the type to get offended by this, then sorry to you, but seriously we still don’t think what we did was wrong”

But how come so few people are not criticizing the App and simply stating the fact that it is WRONG and degrading to women?

Let’s see some more responses below – it’ll give you a clearer picture.

What is the big deal? It’s humor, don’t be so serious!

“The app is clearly good taste – the items on the demo video show it’s about conversation starters. If you wanna get hung up about a person’s desire to have sex, perhaps you should ponder how you came into being. For now, if you’re offended, accept the apology. If you’re not offended, game on.”

“Everyone just likes to complain about stuff, but no one takes humor in anything anymore. We’ve become this Politically Correct bunch of rejects…”

“I agree with your assessment of this whole situation. I don’t think anybody was REALLY gonna use this app seriously. It was just something that you could, liek, joke with your friends about.”

“When I found out about it this morning, I just started LOL-ing. Now that I see that there’s such offense to the whole thing, I’m in shock”

“People are taking it all too seriously as AMP has said themselves it was intended to be humorous, not an application with a serious use. People saying things like ‘these lines would never work’ completely missed the point.”

“The app was crude and mysogynistic to be sure. But from what I read it was also damn funny.”

“Everyone needs to lighten up and suck it up. Who promised you a life without offense anyway?”

So wait – It was meant to be humorous, so that makes it ok? It is ok to produce applications that are degrading to women, that clearly offended a lot of people – because hey, the “intentions” were to be humorous?

That line of thought is a very dangerous way of thinking. Something being humorous does not make it okay to do. It is the same reason other controversial apps like “baby shaker” “iSnort”, “iBoobs”, “Dope Wars” “Hottest Girls” are simply wrong – and I believe were all rightfully removed. Shaking a baby for fun, pretending to snort drugs, playing a game of selling and buying drugs, looking at pictures of woman’s breast or bodies are all wrong regardless of whether you think it’s funny. A person may like the app, but that doesn’t make it acceptable. If a person truly believes in the statement that something is acceptable as long as the intention was humor or fun then the person must be able to defend that statement for situations you don’t like.

This is the same kind of reasoning that is used by media to produces immoral or racy shows simply because it brings in the ratings and the revenue. Forget the negative influences on culture and children, people like it and people think it’s fun!

It’s a Smart Marketing Move – Good for them!

“Love the transparency here. Honestly, it’s the first time in a while that I’ve heard anything about Pepsi so kudos for pushing the envelope and coming up with a creative concept that people are talking about…”

“I think the app fit the demographic perfect – I’m surprised they would issue an apology….”

They can’t pull the app yet. It hasn’t completed the mission. This thing was staged long before release. “There is no such thing as bad publicity”. Well to modernize the phrase there is no such thing as bad social media.

Pepsi can play the apologetic parent by coming out and saying they forced Amp to pull the app. Lots of buzz then kudos for “doing the right thing”. They are going to say they wanted to give Amp room to develop it’s own marketing but this is simply going to far.

I would say this is the most reasonable response I’ve read yet, Paul. I have to agree that I thought it just looked like a well crafted foray into “negative” publicity. It looks like a perfect example of using internet link baiting strategies (controversy), for publicity and it is clearly working like a charm.

Depending on the response, Pepsi can play the hero or AMP the villian or either could take the victim’s role, depending on which direction they decide to go next. Honestly, and this is the best part, since mob mentality is pretty predictable, the next step they take will definitely offend one or more sub-groups – who will instantly forget, as quickly as the next new “fiasco” becomes a headline. But in turn it will absolutely endear at least one or more niches, as well – who will remain loyal, because of Pepsi/AMP’s “heart.”

I think it’s brilliant, since the success has already been had. No matter what they do next, there is one thing that has already happened. You are paying attention to them today, when yesterday you were not. On top of that, like any good shepherd, they have guided the sheep to do exactly what they can always expect sheep to do.

Yes it’s a shrewd marketing move – but does that make it ok?

But Women Objectify Men! Wouldn’t be such a big deal if other way around!

“Women objectify men too, they’re just more circumspect about it.”

True, women objectify men as well, but that doesn’t make objectifying women acceptable. Both are wrong!
There were several comments I’ve seen that makes this argument.

Responses of Real Men & Women

“Real men wouldn’t find this ad offensive, and real women would realize it was a joke.”

I sure wouldn’t want to be around these real men and women lest be married to one. It seems to me that the proper response to that which is wrong is to be offended. If someone showed this app to your daughter or worse tried to use it on your daughter, wouldn’t you be offended? I can’t speak for women, but I would assume any women with dignity should be at least somewhat appalled. No?

What do you think?
What is the proper response? Should we be offended or take it as something humorous?
Are you offended?
Do you think something like this contributes to forming a person’s view of others and of lifestyles?
Please let us know what you think!