Saatchi & Saatchi says critics of $500,000 Stoner Sloth campaign are not target audience
A week after the Stoner Sloth anti-drug campaign became the butt of numerous jokes on the internet the ad agency behind it has come out to defend it, saying the majority of critics are not its target audience.
Saatchi & Saatchi was the creative agency commissioned by the NSW Government to make the campaign which likens dope smoking teens to an anti-social sloth.
In a statement the agency, which has previously refused to comment on the campaign, said the clips has generated a “significant return on investment” for the “moderate” $500,000 campaign costs.
The campaign was actually launched at the end of November, but was not widely picked up on social media until mid-December. The videos have now amassed more than 4m views on Facebook and Youtube, and generated media coverage around the world.
I don’t believe people are saying they missed the mark I believe most people think its completely the wrong target , as I type this I`m reading about a night club brawl involving 250 drunks in Melbourne … I think we all know full well what the target should be if we had decent leaders and a decent society, perhaps a few less people in big alcohols bed. So yes wrong Target if the Government wants respect that is. Other wise its just bla bla blablablabla
Since teens are heavy Net users (and heavy pot users) I would say they are very much the target audience.
Lol, “potential efficacy”, just lol
A really interesting piece on vice.com about why the ‘shaming’ premise of the ad is flawed:
http://www.vice.com/read/why-s.....tting-high
The problem with this campaign is it doesn’t talk to the people its want’s to influence, it mocks them. It’s not only pathetic but potentially puts the kids who do have a problem at far greater risk.
Australia’s on Mr Hanky – “you wanna get high”.
From Toby Ralphs original article: “Efficacy of these campaigns often lies in the momentum they create for legislative change and enforcement, rather than persuasion of the villain.”
Does this mean the government is lobbying and appealing to the public to block the legalisation of marijuana?
Could you imagine if we ‘the govt’ started producing ads and awareness about being responsible in recreational drug use etc.
Of course we adults have got it all wrong. Teenagers would never make jokes about a sloth on drugs and laugh as the whole thing backfires. FFS, he’s become a superhero for stoners, teenagers and the rest of the world in mere days.
Maybe they’re secretly trolling us. Queue the press release: ‘We smoked weed in order to create the world’s worst anti-weed campaign to prove that you’re worse on weed.’
I can smell the case study from here…
“Narcotics police are an enormous, corrupt international bureaucracy … and now fund a coterie of researchers who provide them with ‘scientific support’ … fanatics who distort the legitimate research of others. … The anti-marijuana campaign is a cancerous tissue of lies, undermining law enforcement, aggravating the drug problem, depriving the sick of needed help, and suckering well-intentioned conservatives and countless frightened parents.” – William F. Buckley, Commentary in The National Review, April 29, 1983
Awesome work guys on the Stoner Sloth campaign guys! Let’s spread misinformation to the masses and become a global laughing stock!
Now lets get to the pub and get blind drunk and do lines in the toilets on drugs way worse than what we’re portraying as evil!
#Agencies
‘You’re out of touch” – Hall and Oates
What a bunch of arse
LM, the Vice article is great. It almost reads like a planners long brief.
(Well, when planners were actually useful at fleshing out real insights and truths).
The Sloth campaign reeks of creatives trying to be cool and plump up their reel.
To be fair, the creatives aren’t solely to blame are they Saatchi & Saatchi? There’s a whole raft of layers above the creatives that should know better. Not to mention the nameless ‘independent researchers’ who ‘pre-tested’ the work.
No wonder clients are treating agencies so badly these days.
What a waste of money (my money as a taxpayer as it happens).