Shock and Scam advertising may disgust you, but it works unfortunately

December 23, 2009 – 2:15 pm – No Comment

There are advertisements that are meant to warm your heart, to inform you, deceive you, and most of all get you to buy something you may not have otherwise bought. However, there are also shock advertisements that are meant to get people to talk.

Across the social sites this morning, everyone is talking about this new World Wildlife Foundation ad that compares the 9/11 attacks on the United States to the Tsunami in 2005. The consensus on the ad is that it was done in poor taste and it’s also a scam ad.

Scam ads have been around for awhile due to the fact that they are typically put on by advertisers and marketing firms that want to win awards. To win an award, the ad has to be published somewhere. In the case of the World Wildlife Foundation ad, it was published in a small Brazilian newspaper. It was also a print version of the ad seen above.

As long as awards for creativity are given out to ad agencies, ads like this one will be seen across the world and it will continue to shock the public when it leaks out to those who were really never supposed to see them.