NYT: A Madison Avenue Polish on Protest Advertising
The story features a slick TV commercial I happened to see a week ago by the Communications Workers of America trying to publicly shame Verizon against pre-Christmas layoffs of NY-area workers (pointing out their post Sept 11 service sacrifices). It didn't work (Verizon laid off 2,700 workers on Dec. 19th), but I was struck at the time by the fact that it was an ad aimed not so much at consumers but through them, at industry management. It's not an ad technique I can remember seeing before on TV, but it smelled like a trend.
Indeed, the Times pegged it:
From the Evangelical Environmental Network, creators of the "What Would Jesus Drive?" fuel-efficiency campaign, to Survival International, which covered a De Beers billboard of a model with a look-alike plea for indigenous people, many advocacy groups are displaying more marketing acumen than ever, copying mainstream advertising in humor, sex appeal and appealing imagery.
So, the pendulum swings both ways: Fortune 1000 brands are figuring out alternative marketing at the same time as grassroots organizations are figuring out how to go mainstream.
