Advertising campaign gone bad!

[Mermaid02]

Who on Earth would think this was a good idea? Especially the phrase "to die for" ????

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110222/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd_billboard_flap_jonestown_3

 

[Liberty Belle]

Offensive and not even funny.

 

[cmwade77]

Ok, normally I don't find things offensive, even when a lot of other people do, but this is pathetic and definitely offensive. Even without the history there in the article, just given the current situation in Mexico and that they are a Mexican restaurant should have been enough for them to realize how bad of an idea this was!

 

[tvguy]

Offensive and not even funny.

Actually, it's hilarious. Lousy marketing, but hilarious.

But Don Rickles is my life role model.

Although, as someone who works in the news media, and someone who has been shocked more than once by people who have no idea what Jonestown was because it happened before they were born, I think the message may have been created by some 30 year old who wasn't alive then.

Also, I never understood how "Soup Nazi" ever got past the censors on Seinfeld. Something associated with the deaths of 11 million innocent people isn't funny to me.

 

[Mermaid02]

Actually, it's hilarious. Lousy marketing, but hilarious.

But Don Rickles is my life role model.

Although, as someone who works in the news media, and someone who has been shocked more than once by people who have no idea what Jonestown was because it happened before they were born, I think the message may have been created by some 30 year old who wasn't alive then.

Also, I never understood how "Soup Nazi" ever got past the censors on Seinfeld. Something associated with the deaths of 11 million innocent people isn't funny to me.

I think this is probably the case.

 

[luvmy3]

I love a good Kool-Aid joke so I don't find it offensive at all. I don't think its a great marketing campaign for a restaurant though.

It reminds me of a commercial SNL did for a sneaker when they showed the cult that killed themselves before the alien invasion, it was genius and hilarious, but not if it was a real commercial.

 

[minniebeth]

I just don't get with all the creative minds in advertising, why they have to come up with an idea like this. If they go ahead with it, it's for shock value only. If a 30 yo came up with it, more than likely, it was approved by someone higher up who gave the go ahead, so I'm not buying that argument.

Personally, I think it's horrible and not funny one bit.

 

[tlbwriter]

I just don't get with all the creative minds in advertising, why they have to come up with an idea like this.

Well, people are talking about it, so it worked.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Ohhhh that is bad.

I don't know that its offensive to me exactly, just a head shaker. Why would anyone want to cite a mass murder in an ad campaign? Next thing you know they'll be referencing the Unabomber or Jeffrey Dahmer... what the???

 

[FireDancer]

I vote funny. Not in a pull over because you are laughing so hard way but in a haha, I get it kind of way.

Funnier if they offered a discount for wearing matching Nike's.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

FYI, it wasn't Kool-Aid, it was Flavor Aid.

 

[minniebeth]

Well, people are talking about it, so it worked.

Sad but true~

 

[LuvOrlando]

Talking about it, yes, but will they actually go to a restaurant that references poison?

There are jokes everywhere about Shake Weight but I ain't buying one

 

[~disneydiva~]

I vote funny.

 

[luvmy3]

FYI, it wasn't Kool-Aid, it was Flavor Aid.

Interesting info didn't know that.


Kool-Aid is one of those "brand names" that covers all sugary powder drink mixes, like Q-tips covers cotton swabs, or Kleenex covers facial tissue. And besides its sounds better in a joke than flavor aid

 

[Mermaid02]

The part I find really "not funny" is the phrase "to die for" by the drink.

 

[EveDallas]

I vote funny. Not in a pull over because you are laughing so hard way but in a haha, I get it kind of way.

Funnier if they offered a discount for wearing matching Nike's.

I agree.

 

[luvmy3]

The part I find really "not funny" is the phrase "to die for" by the drink.

I didn't find that part funny either, they definitely didn't need to add it.

 

[Magpie]

I personally think it's funny, but it would have been funnier if it had been a parody of an ad, not a real ad. "Drinking the Kool-Aid" has become a common phrase in political conversation, but evidently it's still too soon to use it to promote a restaurant.

It's just an unfortunate marketing misstep. People complained, and the ad was taken down. I think the system worked exactly the way it should.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Poor taste, I guess. Offensive to the point that I'd write to the company? No, and I'm fairly conservative. I've heard "drinking the Kool-Aid" as a catch-phrase and haven't taken offense, either, though, and I'd venture that most of us have used it.