Verizon’s Pit-Bull Branding

Posted by Carroll Trosclair Jul 28, 2008

When the Humane Society, PETA, the ASPCA and other animal support groups protested Verizon’s snarling pit-bull commercial, a company spokeswoman said: "These are fictional ads, designed to be over-the-top, to break through the clutter and get our message across." That was her story and Verizon was sticking with it and the commercial.

As AdAge reported, the spot portrayed two "snarling pit bulls that leap to devour a guy, but fall short because of their chains." It was just what dog owners needed to revive the Michael Vick dog-fighting memories.

The Verizon response recalls what a gentlemanly professor of another era once told a dirty-mouth high school student. "It seems that you have such a limited vocabularly you must get down in the gutter to express your thoughts," he said.

That putdown would not have the impact today that it had on the student a few decades ago, but it suggested a question.

Getting Its Message Across

Was the Verizon spokesperson, in effect, saying that the best idea the company could develop to get its message across was to use a commercial that many people considered to be unfair, offensive and in very bad taste? In other words, if group sensitivity stands in the way of an organization’s best shot, then so be it.

Now Verizon can wallow in the success and attention of that bad taste and outrage because, as they thought, it broke through the clutter of all that more civilized advertising. Now, whenever someone sees a snarling pit-bull, they may well think of Verizon. That’s branding for you.

Wonder how many takes and how much intimidation of the dogs it took to get that video just right?

References:

• Sherry Mazzocchi, AdAge, July 21, 2008
• Matthew Creamer & Rupal Parekh, AdAge, July 28, 2008