"Shock Ads" Disgust Consumers

United Way ads showing a little girl's face atop a busty woman's body to fight teen pregnancy and statutory rape created an uproar online that got them yanked before they went to print.
But the campaign — with the slogan "When you look at a young girl as something more, you need help" — created to fight a disturbing pattern in inner-city Milwaukee is part of a larger trend of increasingly lurid "shock ads," according to Newsweek magazine.
Shock-and-awe gimmicks have been used in advertising for decades, but those in the know say they're becoming more disgusting. And critics are disgusted, calling them needlessly provocative.
The United Way spread is case in point, showing a despondent child-woman wearing a low-cut cocktail dress. The campaign was launched to battle the worrying 71 percent of teen pregnancies in Milwaukee that arise from statutory rape, according to the nonprofit powerhouse.
more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,332756,00.html


Ok guys, what do you think of these ads?

White Rain said:

United Way ads showing a little girl's face atop a busty woman's body to fight teen pregnancy and statutory rape created an uproar online that got them yanked before they went to print.
But the campaign — with the slogan "When you look at a young girl as something more, you need help" — created to fight a disturbing pattern in inner-city Milwaukee is part of a larger trend of increasingly lurid "shock ads," according to Newsweek magazine.
Shock-and-awe gimmicks have been used in advertising for decades, but those in the know say they're becoming more disgusting. And critics are disgusted, calling them needlessly provocative.
The United Way spread is case in point, showing a despondent child-woman wearing a low-cut cocktail dress. The campaign was launched to battle the worrying 71 percent of teen pregnancies in Milwaukee that arise from statutory rape, according to the nonprofit powerhouse.
more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,332756,00.html


Ok guys, what do you think of these ads?

Click to expand...

It's unfortunate that messages aren't getting across in politically correct ways - if the message is right, I'm game for anything.

Am I looking at the wrong ads? These girls don't look "despondant." They are smiling like they just won the 5th grade poster contest.

It's a little creepy, but I'm not sure the message gets across. For one thing, a lot of "normal" guys will be doing what they usually do and won't even notice the girls' faces. Pedos won't pay attention at all b/c the bodies are too well developed. So the only people who will really notice are women (who will be disturbed and even more freaked out) and children (who will either not understand or will get a life lesson from the wrong source).

I think the one of the rose is incredibly effective, as is the workplace safety ad. The underage drinking one just looks like an ad for getting a girl drunk enough to go home with you before last call.

I'm disgusted that people always find a way to be disgusted about something.

HYPOCRITE!!!!