Mock Outrage Over An Ad You Paid For? Reverse Streisand Effect
from the oh-come-on dept
As the concept of The Streisand Effect has become more and more well known, the question I'm most frequently asked is whether or not a company stupidly demanding something be taken down is really being done by someone that understands the likely result and is just using the resulting "attention" to their advantage -- that is, are they pulling a "reverse Streisand Effect." It's often pretty difficult to sort out these cases from the real Streisand Effect, and when in doubt, it's often best to just assume the simplest explanation that the company really was acting stupidly.However, in this latest case, I'm really not sure -- and am starting to suspect a Reverse Streisand Effect by J.C. Penney to promote a new viral video. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that J.C. Penney is pissed off at its ad firm Saatchi & Saatchi for "leaking" a "fake" ad that "appears to be endorsing teen sex." The ad involves a young boy and girl practicing getting dressed as quickly as possible before the boy goes over to the girl's house to hang out in the basement, while the girl's mother is upstairs. Supposedly J.C. Penney "instructed Saatchi to take any action it can to have the ad removed from the Internet."
Uh huh. And now, suddenly, that ad is all over the internets. The whole thing smacks of mock outrage with a demand to takedown content knowing that it will only spread far and wide. So what do people think? Is this a Reverse Streisand Effect or is J.C. Penney just clueless?
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Filed Under: commercials, reverse streisand effect, streisand effect, takedowns
Companies: j.c. penney, saatchi & saatchi
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re:Mock Outrage...
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Re: re:Mock Outrage...
Think about it. You see a report on how JCP is trying to force a video offline. You go track it down, witch is a simple task since they aren't really trying to take it down. JCP gets the eyeball time, but are you going to be more enticed to shop there?
I won't be. In fact I probably will be less likely to shop there since they're just trying to lead the sheeple around.
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Re: re:Mock Outrage...
Someone acting "Consciously and Purposefully" is not acting Cluelessly.
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Re: Re: re:Mock Outrage...
Oh, how I so wish this could be a truism, a Confucianism even...but sadly your statement is so, so, so false. Just about any news coming out of Washington D.C. seems to refute your statement wholly.
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so if the adds became too controversial JC penny would be off the hook so to speak while Saatchi would still get credit for it.
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which conspiracy is more fun
I would not tend to believe that JCP thought this stratagem up itself.
Does it all seem sneaky and underhanded? Hell ya. Of course it does, there's an advertising company at work here.
And no, it just doesn't seem likely that this could be an accident when it's an advertiser wet dream come true.
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At any rate, it's clear that 'come on' is probably only entitled to a friggin' break. If he wants a more intense respite, he'll just have to use up some vacation time.
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Um, because it doesn't? This is the first time in a month that it's been mentioned on the site. And, considering that we post 10 to 15 posts per day, the idea that it's every 3rd article is clearly incorrect.
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Probably the Truth
Saatchi recently won the JCP account. It's common for agencies to produce "spec" spots for pitches - advertising that the client doesn't see and isn't aware of before the pitch. It's done to show the client that the agency "gets" their brand. The work usually never sees the light of day. I'd guess that's what happened in this case. The agency worked with a director (who was probably trying to build his reel) to produce the spot on the cheap for the pitch, then it was likely leaked by someone at the agency or by the director after the pitch w/o JCP's approval.
The people at JCP are as conservative as they come regarding protecting their brand (I live near their HQ). Red state Americans are their bread and butter, so I doubt that they'd have any interest or willingness to participate in a reverse "Streisand Effect" type plot.
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Plausible deniablity
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Maybe I have the wrong definition, but isn't the action being taken just intentional use of the Streisand Effect?
One would think that a reverse streisand effect would entail furiously ignoring the content and it dissapearing based on non-reaction.
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What would be interesting is...
Somehow, I would think that JC Penney would be in a heap of legal trouble for sending out fake DMCA notices when in fact it was intentional for the ad to be spread and they just abused the copyright laws to draw more attention to it. If, in fact, that's what they are planning on doing.
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Re: What would be interesting is...
Doesn't matter whether or not you secretly want the content you ask to be taken down to be distributed more as a result
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HELP!
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It is actually brilliant
Satchi doesn't mind taking the blame becuase it diffuses it from JCP and enhancs their market value as advertising creators.
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It's equally funny that Saatchi has to scam ads like this when agencies like Crispin does cut through breakout viral and integrated work for big names and paying clients.
I question the relevance of agencies like Saatchi, which can only do creative work by bypassing the client. This spot is done by Saatchi as no production agency will presume to be a client's ad agency by doing this to win awards.
I don't really think this ad is really any good in that it does not tie with the tagline and fails to connect with the key audience for JC Penny i.e. parents.
So what if it has gone viral? Interesting viral videos are a dime a dozen these days with limited lifespan. And most do not build brands or connect people to the brand in a meaningful manner.
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