One way to succeed in business is to build a better mousetrap. An alternative is to get a movie star or an All Black to make an ad telling the world that your mousetrap is totally awesome.
A third option is to pretend that every celebrity in the world thinks your mousetrap is the best thing they ever bought. You get to have it both ways then: you get the star power leverage and you get to make a joke along the lines of: “We don’t have the budget for all these stars but here’s what we’ve photoshopped for your entertainment. By the way please click this link for a free trial of our killer mousetrap.”
A couple of campaigns in recent years have tried this approach and earned plenty of laughs and attention. But one of them has also found itself in the weeds with legal problems, and offers a useful reminder about the rules on false advertising.
In the UK, SURREAL brand cereal has just run a very witty ad campaign purporting to offer endorsements from a galaxy of celebs such as Serena Williams, Michael Jordan, Ronaldo, and Dwayne Johnson, but also offering a big asterisk and disclaimer to make it clear it’s all tongue in cheek.
It was a huge viral hit, winning hearts on social media and potentially, new customers. But 102k likes and a few days on, it appears the big asterisk and disclaimer were insufficient to satisfy the IP lawyers and the campaign has seemingly been revised.
The campaign is reminiscent of the one Skinny Mobile ran in 2018 called Famous Names. It showed...
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