Well, we graduated from UF (The University of Florida) in 2008 (most of us, at least). After leaving the halls (or atrium) of Weimer Hall, we're off to work in advertising, all across the country! What we're up to, and what we're in to - you'll find it here! Check often to find out about the Wizards of Weimer!

Monday, August 4, 2008

Mind-blowingly Inappropriate

So, I'm assuming that most of you have seen the new advertising campaign for the CW's Gossip Girl... like the huge billboard in Time's Square with Blake Lively and one of her many suitors in a sultry embrace with only "OMFG" as the copy. If not:

gossip-girl.jpg

As you can imagine this caused quite a stir among parents and conservative people in general. To me, this ad is brilliant. The whole premiss of the show is about a "gossip girl" who posts juicy information about the main characters on her website, and as they are all teenagers in high school, the term "OMFG" is completely fitting and appropriate. Not only does it embrace the use of the acronym among teens through speech, text, and AIM, but it perfectly describes the scene at play. (here, Blake Lively is having nasty sex with someone else's boyfriend...).

This ad (and, probably more than the ad, the show itself...) caused quite a controversy and caused a lot of these parent groups and the media to go into quite a frenzy... and this is where it gets interesting. The CW decided to take this "negative publicity" and turn it into a creative, effective and resonating campaign for their controversial show.

They took some actual quotes from these groups and the media and used them as copy for ads of the same nature as the "OMFG" ad.... take a look and then read the AdAge article. I think it is brilliant.

gossip-girl-ads.jpg

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