Fake Ads to Track Conversions (or fun with a dash of fat hate!)
June 6, 2008 by Jennifer Gniadecki
Filed under Careers
The Philly Inquirer ran an ad that directed you to www.flyderrie-air.com - while it looked real, it was not. It was created "by Philadelphia Media Holdings to test the results of advertising in our print and online products and to stimulate discussion on a timely environmental topic of interest to all citizens."
You know, I was laughing for a good solid ten minutes before I even thought to look farther into the fake ad to see it was a carbon-neutral aircraft.
Then I scrolled down farther so I could be shown how entrenched fat-hatred (and the assumption that fat-discrimination is somehow normal and okay to use in advertising) has become in society. Because of course to be carbon neutral, the fatties need to pay more. I bet not one person raised a hand in the meeting to ask, “Isn’t this potentially offensive to fat people, whom we regularly belittle and put down as an industry as it is?” Of course not. Fat people were not meant to fly, and this ad just assumes everyone already understands those people are a problem when flying, so they pay more!
A few of my favorite FAQs:
How much will your tickets be?
It depends on how much you and your luggage weigh. These masses will be combined and then turned into a price with our "Sliding Scale". If you and your luggage have a combined weight of less than 200 pounds, the cost savings is considerable-as high as sixty percent for domestic flights!
What is the "Sliding Scale"?
The "Sliding Scale" comes from the notion that each of us is responsible for the energy we use. There’s nothing wrong with toting around a little extra mass-as long as you pay for it.
At least the disclaimer at the bottom of the page is a decent size.
I think it’s smart to track advertising. I think it’s sad they haven’t figured out Google has a fun program called Analytics that could help them with that and they don’t need to treat readers like fools. The problem with viral advertising is that it can be very, “fool me once, shame on you — fool me twice, shame on me!” Which means the next ad campaign…the real one…isn’t going to get as much attention because people will think, “Oh, you got me last time with that joke.”
Bad job Philadelphia Media Holdings. Bad job all around.
How does this relate to networking? It’s a very bad networking move to hate fat people or blame fat people for global warming, which has been done more than in just this funny ad (see here, I’m not kidding!) Ever since they tweaked what number on the BMI was technically overweight and many clinically fat people (and plus-size models) wear size 10. It is bad networking to potentially trigger someone’s eating disorder by not warning them that you’re going to make them feel terrible about themselves when they read about a pound system for an airline. It’s just bad form.
Cross Posted: Beyond Mom Blog
You make a valid point about our society. And, while I don’t blame “fat people” for their energy use, I was guilty of not noticing the bias in the ad very quickly. And laughing about it more than maybe I should have. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
Oh, I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m being judgmental! I laughed too…it took a while minute before I went…HEY! That’s not okay!
That’s what makes it so scary. I’m kind of into the whole fat discrimination thing, follow blogs, read medical journal articles and whatnot…and I didn’t see it right away.
It’s just so odd, and I wonder how long the committee met before deciding that a person + luggage weighing 200lbs. total was the ideal number.
Thanks for the awesome comment Miranda, I appreciate it!!
Jennifer:
I think you should have stuck with your gut instinct and enjoyed the bellylaugh.
If this were on MadTV or SNL, no one would be object to it. In fact, last night’s South Park episode showed Rob Reiner consuming pizzas and burgers non-stop; it was so upsetting I ate an entire bucket of chicken to get it out of my mind.
I also think that the really harmful discrimination is not what’s in the open, but what’s being done in silence without humor. Next week Philly Media will be running ads with airbrushed supermodels and celebrities with inches photochopped off arms and waistlines and no one will say a word.
I was going to say Lighten up! but I gotta go. Time for lunch!
Scary how industry puts people in boxes, and thinks it’s Ok to mock someones body shape. Especially since anything above size four is fat according to TV anyway! I can just imagine “airport avoidance syndrome” being the neurosis of the future.
Thanks for a good post. Donna
I actually have a problem with both of your examples. Discrimination is most harmful when people assume no one cares.
Though most people won’t care. Because that’s part of what keeps discrimination around!
Lighten up. Next time someone tells a racial or handicapped or cancer joke and someone has a problem with it…make sure to break that one out. Works every time!
But thanks for commenting, I would have been REALLY worried if I hadn’t gotten told to lighten up, or it was just a joke, or it happens everywhere else so why is this one instance bad…by *someone* — because those are common reactions when people point things out and say, “That’s not okay.”
Enjoy lunch!
Donna - I think I already suffer from that affliction LOL