pe.ma Pema Hegan's collection of news and ideas too long for a tweet

Marketing democracy on YouTube

Having spent 7 years working in advertising agencies I can attest to the fact that the ad business has a pretty warped concept of what the 'truth' is. Agencies don't often lie, they just choose to focus on points that mislead people about the products they are selling. Of course good advertising (the kind that I produced ;)) never bullshits anyone, but unfortunately good advertising is not the majority of what gets produced.

I have always been a big fan of work from citizens or groups that aim to talk back to brands in public spaces and attempt to set the record straight. Adbusters call it subvertising, but usually it just involves someone climbing up on a billboard and changing the text or image on an ad to make a statement.

Unfortunately changing a billboard takes a lot of effort and the threat of going to jail or getting a hefty fine puts people off.

One way I'm increasingly seeing people talking back to brands is on YouTube. Lately I've noticed more people using advertising spoofs, which have been going on for a long time, to make statements and sometimes present some truth about what is being advertised in the original ad. Subvertising on YouTube is less work than a billboard, less dangerous and if you do a good job you have the opportunity to reach many more people.

Here is a simple example of an ad for an energy company in New Zealand being jammed with some 'truth'.

The original ad:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw8QJWdC650]

The 'fixed' ad:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i12qJ-Nejgk]