Modern advertisements reflect the shift of modern values
Societal desensitization ebbs and flows for dozens of factors and reasons. From media saturation to political power and ideologies, what we deem as “okay” or “normal” has never been linear. Ever since the 2000s, hyper sexual content and outrage marketing have been used as a marketing play to increase product sales; it has not been declining, and it simply will not. Companies value being seen and known over being respected and valued. The more we allow that behavior as consumers, the more our media will deteriorate. Advertising has always utilized shock value for its benefit, but there is a very thin and wilted line between cognitive distraction and consumer alienation, and it has gotten to an uncomfortable point.
“You can’t run from fear,” Jay Schottenstein, the billionaire CEO behind American Eagle, said in his first interview with the “Wall Street Journal” amid the recent Sydney Sweeney controversy. “We stand behind what we did.” Coming from a marketing perspective, it reflects how a misjudgment of consumer reaction can completely divide a fandom. When mass-consumed content, like an ad, uses an overwhelming amount of sexual undertones, it overwhelms the viewer’s ability to remember the brand or product being advertised. This is an example of outrage marketing.
In retrospect, it is a smart tactic to get people talking about your product, but the message of the ad can become skewed and can lead to brand dissonance. It was not just the sexual shock value in this ad that grabbed people’s attention negatively, but the play of words in the ad that was viewed by critics as a “eugenics dog whistle.” For a brand like American Eagle, which has always held itself high for having inclusive representation, the mix of suggestive content and accusations of white supremacy did more than disappoint people. But even with all of the backlash, American Eagle gained a significant increase in brand awareness with a total of 1.28 billion dollars in revenue and 700,000 new customers with consistent traffic in August. Outrage marketing, though outrageous, proves time and time again that sex sells, shock value sells and cognitive distraction is a powerful tactic in any form of marketing, from politics to entertainment to consumerism, and that even though it’s successful, it diminishes art and productivity in media.
It is important to note that outrage marketing is a tool that is not always as obvious as the Sydney Sweeney ad. This past June, an AI billboard enraged people in NYC as the ‘Stop Hiring Humans’ campaign for the software company, AI Artisan, was spread all across Times Square. The billboard sparked outrage as the sensitivity of AI usage has been heavy on people’s minds. Co-founder and CEO, Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, explained in an interview with ‘The Post’ that the company spent less than $50,000 on placements across Manhattan, a minuscule amount compared to the company’s gross income. “The biggest play with the campaign is not actually the people who see it from the street,” Carmichael-Jack said. “It’s when people take pictures and repost it and share it. That’s when we go viral.” It seems that virality has overpowered visibility, and this is seen all throughout ads and the entertainment industry. Despite the public backlash, death threats towards the company and criticism, the company generated millions in new annual recurring revenue and gained mass relevance.
It seems like in today’s society, everything is based on reaction. Techniques like cognitive distraction and hyper shocking imagery seem to grab revenue, attention and money. Unfortunately, that is what businesses and consumers prioritize most. There is an obvious gain for companies looking to have a chokehold on the market, but with this comes a deterioration in the quality of ads and intention of corporations, especially with a generation that is addicted to short attention spans and shock value.
