Imagine if Coke or Pepsi wasn’t allowed in its advertising to urge people to drink soda? If they weren’t allowed to say that an ice-cold cola is awesome and refreshing and makes your day? What would the ads say? Drink Coke. It’s brown and sweet. OK. You see why I’m in the news business, not advertising, but you get the idea.
That’s the situation facing Howard, Merrell & Partners of Raleigh, which won (if that’s the right word) the $8 million contract for advertising of the N.C. Lottery. The lottery legislation spells out the restrictions, including that no ad “may have the primary purpose as inducing persons to participate in the lottery.”
Winston-Salem’s own Mullen ad agency also competed, but didn’t get the job. Our reporting suggests that the agency’s ads played up the possibility of big wins, another no-no.
It’s hard to sell a product with one ad tied behind your back. And my guess is that there will be a lot of disagreement over the meanings of the words “primary purpose” and “inducing”. With $1 billion on the line every year, it’s likely that the definitions will get looser over time.
Your host is Ken Otterbourg, the managing editor at the Winston-Salem Journal. It's a forum to discuss the media, from
“It’s hard to sell a product with one ad tied behind your back.”
Actually, it’s what those of us who work in advertising do all day, every day. There are always limitations; if they don’t come from legislation, they come from regulating agencies (like CARU, which strictly regulates much of BK’s advertising, for example). Many times the client is the one tying hands, and in many cases, it’s not just rope around one wrist, but handcuffs around both, not to mention a gag and blindfold (I’m thinking of Lee Jeans now, a client that, when it comes to ad agencies, always insists on “buying the dog and then barking for it”—which IMHO is one of the reasons they’re down to selling about six pairs of jeans a year these days).
It can be extremely stressful and frustrating, but honestly, it’s also one of the things that makes the job fun. I like the game—the mental calesthenics (sp?)—the challenges. And of course, the greater the challenge, the sweeter the satisfaction when a campaign or ad works/proves effective.
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