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Some people take things too seriously

by RickDuris
8 replies
Sneaker company in doghouse after dead dog ad - NBC News.com

- Rick Duris

PS: Notice some of the takeaways. Insightful.

PPS: But you gotta give'em a little credit. It was unusual.
#people #things
  • Profile picture of the author Steve Hill
    What amazes me is that anyone at the company thought it was a good idea to associate the negative emotion and distress of a distraught dog owner with their brand.
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    • Profile picture of the author Cool Hand Luke
      Originally Posted by Steve Hill View Post

      What amazes me is that anyone at the company thought it was a good idea to associate the negative emotion and distress of a distraught dog owner with their brand.
      This. The Pearl Izumi rep even said "Our attempt was humorous"... really?

      I'm all for yucks but you've got to have a bizarre sense of humor to think "Hey, that guy outran his dog, and now the dog is dead LOL... I think I'll get those shoes so I too can cause my dog to go into cardiac arrest!"
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    • Profile picture of the author RickDuris
      Originally Posted by Steve Hill View Post

      What amazes me is that anyone at the company thought it was a good idea to associate the negative emotion and distress of a distraught dog owner with their brand.
      Truth of the matter is I have a couple really bad ideas like this every day. Hard not to.

      For instance, a couple years ago, I came up with this idea for Jesus Pizza. Where a pizza parlor would create images of Jesus out of the condiments they put on pizza. I wanted to get Father Guido Sarduchi to front the thing and bless grand openings and such.

      Boy, I got some push back on that.

      I'm only reminded of it because today I just saw a commercial fronted by Mike Ditka where he's having breakfast pancakes with the images of famous football players toasted on them.

      (I wasn't too far off.)

      But you see this kind of stuff every day...

      3 Moronic Marketing Stunts People Are Pulling on Twitter | Cracked.com

      There's a gem of an idea in the dog ad, but I'd have to give it some thought.

      The thing I liked about the running shoe company is after they discovered their mistake, they didn't go dark. Which would have been the knee jerk reaction.

      They owned up to it and apologized.

      Good call.

      - Rick Duris
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  • Profile picture of the author AnabelleFlorida
    This might have been a calculated campaign, either way, I don't like it at all.
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  • Profile picture of the author Marvin Johnston
    While I think the ad was in bad taste, it just goes to show that some people are more concerned about what happens to an animal than what happens to people. Enough said.

    Marvin
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  • Profile picture of the author ECTally
    What if we, for just a moment, set aside our sense of propriety, empathy and political correctness, and instead, look at this from a purely marketing perspective?
    • Will Pearl Izumi suffer long term damage from this incident? No
    • Will Pearl Izumi receive a boatload worth of free advertising? Yes
    • Will late night talk show host, the social media and the blogosphere continue to provide the brand with a secondary wave of free advertising for months to come? Yes.
    • Will Pearl Izumi's brand and market recognition increase by many a thousand percent? Yes.
    • Will this episode make retailers more likely to stock up on Pearl Izumi's products? Yes.
    • Will this short term notoriety work well with the younger demographic? Yes.
    • Will this lead to a spike in sales? Yes.
    • Will this earn the Pearl Izumi execs involved with the campaign censure from parent company Shimano Inc.? Who knows? But it's irrelevant to the point I'm trying to make.

    And lastly (think about it), how likely is it that out of the dozens (at least) of decent, normal human being involved with the campaign, not one seem to notice the sheer inappropriateness of the ad and the firestorm it would cause?

    We are not talking about a gigantic MNC here. Pearl Izumi's sales forecast for 2013 is only about $2.6 million (converted from Yen). So real people are involved in the campaign.

    So, I think the question that needs asking here is, was this a calculated campaign by Genesis Inc.?

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  • Profile picture of the author Hogre
    Dammit,I want those shoes!

    The ad is refreshing and funny (to me,at least).And I've owned dogs all my life...
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  • Profile picture of the author Lance K
    They could have shown him hauling ass down a street in nothing but his boxers and sneakers, outrunning a musclebound jealous boyfriend. Could have even put the knockout girlfriend in the background sporting nothng but the guy's Pearl Izumi t-shirt that's barely long enough to cover her lady bits. Sex sells, right?
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    "You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want."
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