Provocative advertising is a phenomenon widely used by marketers and applied to attract the attention of the audience. Two categories can be distinguished: shock content and controversial. Shock advertising is advertising that is intentionally made to cause disapproval of viewers, violating social norms and values, to make an aggressive contact. Controversial advertising is characterized by disregard for values and social norms, as well as the use of limited taboo popular topics such as violence, sexuality or politics through visual, verbal or situational elements.
The definition of provocative advertising includes the two definitions above. It is characterized by a deliberate attempt to attract the attention of the audience in order to shock through ambiguity and the violation of social norms and taboos.
For which companies is provocative advertising effective?
Provocative advertising is most appropriate for promoting specific products. Most often, this is food (large companies), perfume (aroma), clothing and cigarettes. In addition, sexual intrigue is mainly used in bank data advertising alcoholic beverages, beauty and health products. These types of products are often associated with feelings and desires to be attractive and sexy. Some creatives from advertising become memes and spread across social networks and YouTube.
Visual examples of provocative advertising in marketing
How to distinguish provocative advertising from simply bright and memorable? We will give several examples of creatives and slogans of provocative advertising campaigns in marketing that had a wide public resonance, and also show what opinion the public has formed on them.
Burger King
Burger King Corporation is an American global fast food restaurant chain that was founded in 1954 in Miami, Florida. Burger King is the second largest fast food restaurant chain in the world after McDonald's, with over ten thousand restaurants.
The example below was part of a promotion in Singapore. The website featured a woman with a slightly open round mouth and red lipstick on the left and a seven-inch burger on the right, positioned at the same height as the woman's mouth. The text underneath the image on the website reads, "This will blow your mind," implying a sexually charged undertone (a play on words). In the upper right corner, the Burger King logo sits next to a smaller headline, a tagline that reads, "Simply Tastier."