Text/Yangcheng Evening News commentator Lin Rumin
On March 24, the keyword “Procter & Gamble apologizes” appeared on the Weibo Top search on blog. The cause of the incident was that on March 13, Procter & Gamble published an article on its public account titled “Women’s foot odor is 5 times that of men? Do not believe it, smell it now”, accused of insulting women. At noon on the 24th, P&G publicly apologized on its official Weibo.
Famous brand, woman, foot odor, instant smell, these words are enough to constitute a suspenseful thriller peach sex drama, of course they are eye-catching enough, I want to come here Basic ideas for copywriters.
This hot search also has room for further comments. So if we want to criticize, where should we start from? Insulting women and disrespecting women is of course the most mainstream and correct perspective, and in fact it is. The article aroused public outrage, precisely because of the derogation of women without scientific basis, and P&G could only proceed from the “disrespect for women” and express a “solemn apology”.
A common trick of some new media tweets is to grab attention with a misinformation or specious headline, and then introduce the right message in the text. Procter & Gamble was deeply poisoned by this method, but it was obviously not in the realm of transformation, and the poison gas attacked the heart. Others were loose on the outside and tight on the inside, but Procter & Gamble was loose on the inside and outside.
In addition, in addition to being accused of lack of sincerity, as a well-known brand, writing a copy is so sluggish, which also makes people suspicious of the so-called corporate culture of the company. For example, “We solemnly apologize for the disrespect to women caused by the inappropriate content of a recent article on the P&G member center account”, how to read and how to screw up.
Traditional advertising and marketing, no matter what product is sold, likes to be accompanied by the image of a sexy beauty, and the desire to have a beautiful woman motivates people to buy the product.
“Aside from sometimes promoting the inherent qualities of an item, the metaphor of sexiness and possession of another type of item constitutes the only basis for advertising” (History of Integrity).
Although this is also a marketing model worthy of criticism, it is only worse, not the worst, at least it is more pleasing than P&G’s “foot odor”.