Harvey Nichols has managed to upset some of its customer base with its latest advertising gimmick.
The luxury chain’s latest mailshots have angered shoppers who have branded them “crass” and off-putting.
Judging by the reaction, the flyers which have been sent to thousands of potential customers around the country to promote a sale, have clearly offended sensitive shoppers.
They show a woman with her clothes soaked around the groin area next to the slogan: “The Harvey Nichols Sale.. Try To Contain Your Excitment[sic].”
Er… Yeah… I can see what they were thinking. Well, anyone could, couldn’t they? And they give that very reason:
“During the production of the campaign, we researched the use of this expression in popular culture and social media and were satisfied that is is both commonplace and invariably used in a playful, inoffensive manner, which was in-keeping with the tongue-in-cheek spirit in which we intended our campaign to be taken.”
Well, yes, it is a popular phrase. However, there is a difference between saying “wetting oneself with excitement” and actually portraying it in an image. The facetiousness seems to dissipate somewhat – unless you are into that sort of thing, of course.
As one commenter below the line points out – there is another very popular phrase used in common parlance – “shit for brains”. I just can’t wait for the ad campaign…
Well done, an ad intended to grab attention has done just what it set out to do, to get the Twittersphere tweeting and Facebook, newspapers and bloggers outraged and they all have picked up on the Harvey Nicks sale advert and 10,000’s more people know about it than they otherwise would have.
Even me, thanks to you, Longrider. Well done. You fell for that one hook line and sinker didn’t you?
What part of the humour tag escaped you?
Do we have to dissect the nuance of the ‘tags’ on your posts before pointing out the bleeding obvious?
If you want to make it ‘funny’, use a smiley. 🙄
If you can’t pick up nuances without me having to use smileys – which I prefer not to use – then the problem rests with you, not me. The tags are “bleeding obvious”, after all. That’s the point of them being there.
If I want to make a wry comment on something that amuses me, I’ll do so. It does not mean that I’ve fallen for anything hook line and sinker at all. As I haven’t.
I have to say that this has to be the most crass and tasteless ad. that I’ve ever seen. Having said that I am not the slightest bit upset or offended by it. Time will tell on the question of whether the ad. is a huge success or a huge own goal. In the end their sales figures will be the judge.
The idea that any publicity is good publicity is a fallacy. The Ratner effect being an example of that. And advertising is only any good if it results in increased sales – time will tell on this one.
I can’t wait. Er….