Historically significant ad man guru Don Draper once said “If you don’t like what is being said, then change the conversation.”
But what if the dominant conversation surrounding your brand is a molten ball of rage which sounds something like: we find it pretty hard to believe you approved this inter-species rape ad. What gives?
A massive 170m x 90m painted image of two animals copulating, one clearly more into it than the other, was the focus last month of a guerrilla outdoor advertising campaign for Australian sports betting company Sportsbet. The image, a Wallaby who knows you’re just playing hard to get so stop joking around humping the rear of a surprised looking Lion friend, was plastered onto an area of grass next to the Melbourne Airport with the tagline “rooting for the wallabies” using commercial grade rohypnol.
Heeding the wise words of Mr. Draper, Sportsbet have since decided to make their true intentions known by releasing a video ignoring the rapey overtones of the ad (because that was just a joke you guys) and focusing instead on the real story of the campaign, the virtuosic spray control of the artisans assembled to construct the masterpiece. According to the video, the image Sportsbet claims to be “the world’s biggest painted sign” required five expert painters, 2,500 litres of paint and five days to complete.
The potential media interest surrounding these new developments is surely significant enough to change the public conversation from “whoa, what a rapey advertisement” to “I wonder what the exact definition of a painted sign is?”
Mission accomplished.
