Plan B ad - Offensive?

[Kelly]

I just wanted to weigh in quickly (sorry I've been off this thread, I've been travelling.)

I'm agreed with everyone that the new ad isn't anything to get excited about. It's still kinda problematic and not particularly great advertising, BUT that's not the point.

The point is that in the course of a week (over the holidays, no less) we got a major corporation to scramble and redo a marketing rollout. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is. I've run campaigns like this before, and most of the time when corporations do offensive stuff and get complaints, especially from groups they've never heard of, those complaints get ignored, or the groups get placated and told to wait months to see any changes.

That didn't happen here. As soon as they started getting our emails they called some meetings to figure out how to respond. They spent a few days looking into our community and seeing what was up with us, and checking with their bosses and their bosses bosses. That's probably why it took a few days for Denise to get back to anyone, she was waiting for her bosses to deliberate.

And her bosses looked at us, and they looked at the press we've received in the past, and they freaked. What they saw is a tightly networked online community capable of executing a targeted online campaign. They saw a community that has extensive experience engaging the press and that knows how to get stories spun in their direction. So they called up Denise and said "email everyone and be polite, spend what you need to to get the ad fixed over the holidays, just don't piss these people off."

I'm sure that they're also a responsible company who cares about putting out accidentally offensive ads, but they probably wouldn't have turned things around this quickly if they weren't a little bit intimidated.

This is a pretty big victory for us. It's the first time we've really taken on anti-asexual sentiment in an organized way, and we killed it in record time. I think it's an indicator of how strong we are as a community.

Big, big thanks to Shawn Landis of the Philadelphia Examiner for breaking the story, and to kitchenwitch, SASE, Ninny, the HPOA team, and everyone else who wrote a letter to Teva. I think we should hold off on doing anything other than sending them a thank you. They acted fast to avoid this being a story, if we continue to push them for a public apology then I bet we'll get pushback. It may be more strategic to find some big, public way to thanks them for fixing the problem so quickly. That way they look good and we get to send the message that it's important to respect asexual people in advertising.

Summary: We won 'cuz we've got big, beefy, asexy muscles. Any new threads/ideas on what we should do with them?

This is awesome news, AVENguy!

And, yes, thank you AVENites who worked on this.

[Ninny]

My god, I'm so proud of this community ^_^

for all!

[Raccoonwolf]

The corrected ad was kinda... Huh. They removed a word. And it became even more boring.

But it's awesome to see something happen for real. I mean, I'd never have believed they'd actually do something about it! I've been in a demonstration with thousands of people that changed nothing at all.

It's been proved now! Asexuals rock! ': D

[Henny]

Summary: We won 'cuz we've got big, beefy, asexy muscles.

The ruling sexualities shall tremble. :P

[Sally]

This is amazing. I can hardly believe that a corporation listened and did something about it. I agree with AVENguy; no asking for apology, just celebrate our victory over the forces of...anyway, congratulations to those who wrote them.

[swankivy]

Well, I'm still boycotting their product.

^_____________^

[SASE Icecream man]

I just wanted to weigh in quickly (sorry I've been off this thread, I've been travelling.)

I'm agreed with everyone that the new ad isn't anything to get excited about. It's still kinda problematic and not particularly great advertising, BUT that's not the point.

The point is that in the course of a week (over the holidays, no less) we got a major corporation to scramble and redo a marketing rollout. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is. I've run campaigns like this before, and most of the time when corporations do offensive stuff and get complaints, especially from groups they've never heard of, those complaints get ignored, or the groups get placated and told to wait months to see any changes.

That didn't happen here. As soon as they started getting our emails they called some meetings to figure out how to respond. They spent a few days looking into our community and seeing what was up with us, and checking with their bosses and their bosses bosses. That's probably why it took a few days for Denise to get back to anyone, she was waiting for her bosses to deliberate.

And her bosses looked at us, and they looked at the press we've received in the past, and they freaked. What they saw is a tightly networked online community capable of executing a targeted online campaign. They saw a community that has extensive experience engaging the press and that knows how to get stories spun in their direction. So they called up Denise and said "email everyone and be polite, spend what you need to to get the ad fixed over the holidays, just don't piss these people off."

I'm sure that they're also a responsible company who cares about putting out accidentally offensive ads, but they probably wouldn't have turned things around this quickly if they weren't a little bit intimidated.

This is a pretty big victory for us. It's the first time we've really taken on anti-asexual sentiment in an organized way, and we killed it in record time. I think it's an indicator of how strong we are as a community.

Big, big thanks to Shawn Landis of the Philadelphia Examiner for breaking the story, and to kitchenwitch, SASE, Ninny, the HPOA team, and everyone else who wrote a letter to Teva. I think we should hold off on doing anything other than sending them a thank you. They acted fast to avoid this being a story, if we continue to push them for a public apology then I bet we'll get pushback. It may be more strategic to find some big, public way to thanks them for fixing the problem so quickly. That way they look good and we get to send the message that it's important to respect asexual people in advertising.

Summary: We won 'cuz we've got big, beefy, asexy muscles. Any new threads/ideas on what we should do with them?

This is awesome news, AVENguy!

And, yes, thank you AVENites who worked on this.

**Does happy dance** Talk about a win! I hear it takes a lot of money to redo an ad, and with so little time! :D

Summary: We won 'cuz we've got big, beefy, asexy muscles.

The ruling sexualities shall tremble. :P

:lol:

[sinisterporpoise]

Big, big thanks to Shawn Landis of the Philadelphia Examiner for breaking the story

Did he break it or did he read it here first? I'd ask him, but I already know what the answer will be.

[brontide]

Well, I'm still boycotting their product.

^_____________^

...I lol'ed. :D

[Finbarr]

Well, I'm still boycotting their product.

^_____________^

...I lol'ed. :D

I also. :D

[Ninny]

No what we have won it's time for satire!

:lol:

(Srsly, I wanna know who made this, you're a genius!)

[prettyeyes]

Pie? No way. I'm becoming an a-cakeist, a-happiness, a-life-as-a-whole person! :lol:

[SASE Icecream man]

Well, I'm still boycotting their product.

^_____________^

...I lol'ed. :D

I also. :D

I LOL'ed seeing that two people LOL'ed at that. Now I'm LOLing, wondering if anyone else is going to LOL. :lol:

[WhenSummersGone]

I still have a problem with the ad. They are still kinda saying that celibacy and abstinence isn't a real plan, not to mention Plan B should not be a plan either. Hopefully no one will actually consider Plan B as their only plan and not even consider regular birth control

At least they removed the asexual bit though

[Rilig]

I still have a problem with the ad. They are still kinda saying that celibacy and abstinence isn't a real plan, not to mention Plan B should not be a plan either. Hopefully no one will actually consider Plan B as their only plan and not even consider regular birth control

At least they removed the asexual bit though

I agree. Celibacy is totally a plan against pregnacy, but I think what they meant was that, after having a problem, irrationally swearing off sex in a futile attempt to not get pregnant because of said problem.

IMHO, it's still a bad ad, just no longer offensive to my group. It can be interpreted wrong, so that's their problem. I'll try to find the new picture ad. I saw it, but I couldn't take a screenshot at the time.

[WhenSummersGone]

I still have a problem with the ad. They are still kinda saying that celibacy and abstinence isn't a real plan, not to mention Plan B should not be a plan either. Hopefully no one will actually consider Plan B as their only plan and not even consider regular birth control

At least they removed the asexual bit though

I agree. Celibacy is totally a plan against pregnacy, but I think what they meant was that, after having a problem, irrationally swearing off sex in a futile attempt to not get pregnant because of said problem.

IMHO, it's still a bad ad, just no longer offensive to my group. It can be interpreted wrong, so that's their problem. I'll try to find the new picture ad. I saw it, but I couldn't take a screenshot at the time.

Yes, I can definitely agree with you on all of that!

[EGAD!]

I just wanted to weigh in quickly (sorry I've been off this thread, I've been travelling.)

I'm agreed with everyone that the new ad isn't anything to get excited about. It's still kinda problematic and not particularly great advertising, BUT that's not the point.

The point is that in the course of a week (over the holidays, no less) we got a major corporation to scramble and redo a marketing rollout. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is. I've run campaigns like this before, and most of the time when corporations do offensive stuff and get complaints, especially from groups they've never heard of, those complaints get ignored, or the groups get placated and told to wait months to see any changes.

That didn't happen here. As soon as they started getting our emails they called some meetings to figure out how to respond. They spent a few days looking into our community and seeing what was up with us, and checking with their bosses and their bosses bosses. That's probably why it took a few days for Denise to get back to anyone, she was waiting for her bosses to deliberate.

And her bosses looked at us, and they looked at the press we've received in the past, and they freaked. What they saw is a tightly networked online community capable of executing a targeted online campaign. They saw a community that has extensive experience engaging the press and that knows how to get stories spun in their direction. So they called up Denise and said "email everyone and be polite, spend what you need to to get the ad fixed over the holidays, just don't piss these people off."

I'm sure that they're also a responsible company who cares about putting out accidentally offensive ads, but they probably wouldn't have turned things around this quickly if they weren't a little bit intimidated.

This is a pretty big victory for us. It's the first time we've really taken on anti-asexual sentiment in an organized way, and we killed it in record time. I think it's an indicator of how strong we are as a community.

Big, big thanks to Shawn Landis of the Philadelphia Examiner for breaking the story, and to kitchenwitch, SASE, Ninny, the HPOA team, and everyone else who wrote a letter to Teva. I think we should hold off on doing anything other than sending them a thank you. They acted fast to avoid this being a story, if we continue to push them for a public apology then I bet we'll get pushback. It may be more strategic to find some big, public way to thanks them for fixing the problem so quickly. That way they look good and we get to send the message that it's important to respect asexual people in advertising.

Summary: We won 'cuz we've got big, beefy, asexy muscles. Any new threads/ideas on what we should do with them?

Cool. I would say this is indeed very impressive considering our relatively small numbers online and an organized physical presence offline.

[SASE Icecream man]

Summary: We won 'cuz we've got big, beefy, asexy muscles. Any new threads/ideas on what we should do with them?

I've read this part severel times when I keept going back to this thread, and I just read it a minute ago from the above poster, and I still chuckled, just like the time before that and before that and before that......... :lol:

[test account]

Hmm.

[test account]

Double post.

[test account]

Triple post.

[Rilig]

Found the ad again!

I think the picture ad is better than the video. The video still makes the viewer think that if you don't have sex, you don't have a social life or life at all. And the company still hasn't apologized yet. :(

[sinisterporpoise]

Found the ad again!

I think the picture ad is better than the video. The video still makes the viewer think that if you don't have sex, you don't have a social life or life at all. And the company still hasn't apologized yet. :(

And they won't. Don't count on them doing so, either. This corporate speak where the spokespeople dance around the issue rather than address the actual problem is common.