Con­tro­versy In Copy­writ­ing - A Few Shock­ing Examples

One of the goals of a copy­writer is to at­tract the at­ten­tion of the reader. Some at­tempt to do this with hu­mour, or a clever turn of phrase, or by of­fer­ing some ex­clu­sive spe­cial deal or amaz­ing value.

Then there are the copy­writ­ers who try to elicit chills, gasps and looks of sur­prise or hor­ror from their read­ers. They hope that their shock­ing and con­tro­ver­sial words will help keep the prod­uct fresh in the reader’s mind.

Con­tro­ver­sial copy­writ­ing is a dou­ble-edged sword.

  • On the one hand, it can re­ally of­fend and alien­ate cus­tomers if it touches on a sen­si­tive nerve.
  • On the other hand, a very clever and well writ­ten piece of con­tro­ver­sial copy­writ­ing can spark discussion.

Copy­writ­ing that aims to shock or deals with touchy sub­jects will of­ten cause out­rage and might even get banned, which only makes the brand or the prod­uct more widely known. Even bad pub­lic­ity is still good advertising.

Many com­pa­nies like to avoid con­tro­versy, as they are afraid of scar­ing off their au­di­ence. Of course, this is what makes so much copy­writ­ing so tame, generic and well… bor­ing. The best copy­writer can find an imag­i­na­tive bal­ance be­tween at­tract­ing at­ten­tion and push­ing the line with­out putting the company’s en­tire rep­u­ta­tion in jeopardy.

Here are three ex­am­ples of copy­writ­ing that has caused of­fen­sive or crossed the line to be­come controversial:

Spirit Air­lines

Spirit Air­lines, an air­line in the USA, got into a lot of trou­ble with a 2010 ad­ver­tise­ment that not-so-sub­­tly ref­er­enced the ter­ri­ble en­vi­ron­men­tal dis­as­ter of the BP oil spill. The print ad fea­tured an il­lus­tra­tion of a woman on a beach slathered in sun­tan oil, invit­ing read­ers to “Check out the Oil on Our Beaches” and en­cour­ag­ing them to book hol­i­days to Ft. Laud­erdale. There was even a bot­tle of “Best Pro­tec­tion” (BP) sun­screen in the image.

This gutsy copy­writ­ing caused a lot of con­tro­versy, as it was seen as be­ing in­sen­si­tive to the enor­mous amount of eco­log­i­cal dam­age that was caused by the oil spill.

How­ever, Spirit Air­lines has an edgy and silly rep­u­ta­tion; so many peo­ple thought that it fit well with the brand.

Loves Baby Soft

One very con­tro­ver­sial ex­am­ple of copy­writ­ing was a 1970s print ad for Love’s Baby Soft per­fume. The ad de­picts a young fe­male child with red pout­ing lips and a come-hither glare. She has an­gelic curls and is wear­ing a sweet white frilly night­shirt. She cud­dles a white fluffy teddy bear.

The tagline says, “Love’s Baby Soft – Be­cause in­no­cence is sex­ier than you think.” The copy of the ad de­scribes the ‘clean-baby smell’ that is ‘ir­re­sistible’ and ‘grown up enough to be sexy’.

With one look at this ad, you won­der how it ever got to print with its ob­vi­ous pae­dophilic over­tones.  A lot of peo­ple were out­raged and quite sick­ened at this sex­u­al­ized de­pic­tion of a child.

Fairy Soap

Some­times ad­ver­tise­ments that seem in­cred­i­bly con­tro­ver­sial and of­fen­sive in this day and age would not have been that shock­ing when they were cre­ated. For ex­am­ple, a print cam­paign for Fairy Soap in the 1860s showed a lit­tle blonde girl ask­ing a lit­tle girl with black skin, “Why doesn’t your mamma wash you with fairy soap?”

Of course, the im­pli­ca­tion is that the black girl’s skin is dirty be­cause of its colour.

This is an in­cred­i­bly hor­ren­dous and racist ad­ver­tise­ment, but at the time it was printed slav­ery was still le­gal and it was an ac­cu­rate re­flec­tions of the at­ti­tudes of so­ci­ety (which is pretty sad to think).

These are just a few ex­am­ples of con­tro­versy in copy­writ­ing, but there are so many out there. What are some of the most mem­o­rable shock­ing and con­tro­ver­sial ads that you have come across? What did you think of them?