Posted
26th June 2001
Advertising Offensives Offensive
The GAP Widens On Monday, June 18th Gap unveiled a new promotional
display at stores nationwide. Faded black jeans hanging in front
of an anarchist-red banner, the words "INDEPENDENCE," "FREEDOM,"
and "WE THE PEOPLE" scrawled across display windows in fake
black spray paint. Despite the fact that Gap makes their clothes
in sweatshops, and have been subject to many demonstrations
across the nation, they believe that the growing movement against
corporate power is now large enough to begin marketing on. Now
the protest itself can be essentially sold to consumers as an
image. However ridiculous this new marketing scheme seems at
first, due to the tremendous power of corporate advertising
over consumers, Gap just might pull it off, trivializing the
movement against free trade, and selling jeans at the same time.
The effect that this new marketing could have on the movement
is tremendous. If Gap succeeds, it will mean that every protest
that is staged will be building on their new image, in effect
turning protestors and activists into living, walking ads for
Gap.
Further,
if Gap succeeds it may become a trendsetter, and other corporations
might follow. Currently, the majority of consumers are unaware
of how Gap stands on "independence" and "freedom." Gap inc.
is the corporation under which Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic
exist. All three companies have been notorious for paying sweatshop
workers as little as 11 cents per hour in the third world, denying
them basic health care and the right to form unions, as well
as harassing, beating and forcing contraceptives on them. Sweatshop
workers generally work 12-14 hour days (although sometimes 24)
and can be as young as 12 years old. Although many of Gap's
clothes say "Made in USA" they are actually produced in Saipan,
a US territory where normal US labor laws do not exist. The
Fisher Family that owns Gap also owns Mendicino Redwood Company,
an active logging company that is deforesting the valuable redwood
forests in Mendicino County, California. The Fisher family also
has a notorious reputation for lobbying for privatizion of education
and other public works in their home state of California. It
appears that to Gap inc., "Freedom" and "Independence" only
applies to the market, not the people.
Webjunk
Out of nowhere they appear and quickly sweep across your computer
screen. Sometimes they're unstoppable. There's nothing subtle
about this new wave in Internet advertising. Marketers anxious
to get their names noticed are coming up with promotions that
are far more obvious _ many say obnoxious _ to anyone surfing
the Web. They're getting attention, but maybe not the attention
desired. Some consumers are so annoyed by the aggressive tactics
that they say they will never buy from companies using them.
``The first time, an ad may be cute to look at, but after the
10th time, it sure isn't,'' said Mike Pollock, a 36-year-old
New Yorker who spends as many as eight hours a day online. The
last year has been a bumpy one for online advertising. The slowing
economy and failure of many dot-com businesses have significantly
dampened revenue growth, and many established companies cut
back their online ad budgets. "The industry is going through
a tough time, and many sites are lucky to sell a fraction of
their ad space,'' said Patrick Keane, senior analyst at Jupiter
Media Matrix, a New York-based online consulting and tracking
firm. ``As a result, people are willing to push the creative
envelope a bit.'' X10 Wireless Technology Inc. did just that
with a relentless ad campaign for its tiny $80 wireless video
camera. When a user goes to one of the many sites where X10
advertises, its ad immediately opens underneath the browser.
When the browser is later closed, the ad appears and the user
is forced to close it separately.Virtually overnight, the ``pop-under''
campaign made X10 a recognized name. According to the online
research firm NielsenNetRatings, the company had 388,000 unique
visitors to its Web site in January. Nielsen, which estimates
that X10's pop-under campaign began in late winter, said the
number of unique visitors in May was 3.5 million.
Yet
not everyone is thrilled with X10's practices. Internet chat
rooms buzz with angry Web users who want to know how to disengage
the ad. Numerous articles have been written on ways to make
the ads go away. Even the company's Web site informs consumers
how to turn off the ad for 30 days at a time. ``It is a tightrope
they are walking on,'' said Peggy O'Neill, an analyst at NielsenNetRatings
in Milpitas, Calif. ``They have made a name for themselves in
a short hurry, and that's impressive. But there is also a backlash
out there of people who despise these ads and think less of
the brand.'' Pollack is fed up with X10 ads, which he quickly
tries to close without giving them even a glance. ``I think
I am fairly certain that I would never buy anything from X10.''
Web surfers can use software tools to block these ads from popping
up on their screens. Consumer advocates, however, say that the
onus should not be on computer users to take such action. Pop-under
ads aren't the only new formats being spotted online. Last month,
Ford Motor Co. launched an ad that basically took over Yahoo!'s
home page. When the first page loaded, animated birds perched
on Ford's banner ad began to fly around the screen before eating
away at birdseed to reveal an ad for the automaker's new Explorer.
The
ad was only available on May 4, but Yahoo said that more creative
ads are likely to appear in the months ahead. Growing in popularity
are ads, sometimes known as ``shoshkeles,'' which look like
cartoons floating over text and pictures. Such ads have been
used by a wide range of companies, including Monster.com and
Domino's pizza. One ad for airline JetBlue Airways featured
a picture of one of its planes ``flying'' over the Web site
travelguys.net. Also being seen more often are ``superstitial''
ads, which load into a computer's temporary memory while a user
is viewing a Web page and appears instantly when the person
clicks to another page on the same site. New York-based Unicast,
which developed the technology, has seen a rapid increase in
interest, especially by traditional marketers looking to improve
their promotions online. The company's business has grown fivefold
every quarter since September, said Allie Shaw, vice president
of global marketing. Interactive Advertising Bureau, the trade
group that represents Web publishers and marketers, is monitoring
consumer response to the new ad formats. Robin Webster, IAB's
president, said online advertising ``is hardly tried and true.
It is not TV. We haven't had 40 years to figure it out ... We
have to be willing to try new things.'' What goes unsaid is,
who pays for the mistakes?..
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