We ran an ad promoting our agency in the July 3rd edition of SA Weekend. It’s attached below for your viewing pleasure and potential outrage. We received some negative feedback for this ad. Some of the comments were kinda nasty. So you get the picture, complaints we received included;
“… it trivialises schizophrenia… It is about as funny as cancer.”
“Schizophrenia has nothing to do with multiple personalities.”
“It is neither clever or funny and unfortunately reveals your lack of knowledge, your insensitivity and your lack of compassion and understanding.”
“It is precisely this sort of attitude that perpetuates the unfortunate stigma that mental health clients have to endure from a misinformed public.”
Now, deliberately offending the readership of SA Weekend wouldn’t be very good for OUR brand would it? But, just so we’re clear, we weren’t trying to insult individuals who suffer from Schizophrenia or belittling their condition. Most of you will realise that we were using the word ‘Schizophrenic’ as an adjective to describe a thought process that lacks rationality or cohesion. A quick search on an online dictionary will provide you with the following definition of the word:
A state characterised by the coexistence of contradictory or incompatible elements.
For the purposes of our ad, I feel we used the word in the correct context. As you can see however, there are several members of the general public who would defiantly disagree. These semantics are really irrelevant though. Our ad merely illustrated the problem of inconsistent branding in a creative way. It was not meant to be controversial or insensitive. Sadly, the feedback we received illustrates how poorly a percentage of the general public perceive our industry and the people that work in it.
Over the years, schizophrenics have been portrayed inaccurately in many situations and through many media. For example, Heath Ledger’s Joker was a ‘schizophrenic sociopath’. This portrayal of schizophrenia also received a great deal of back lash. OK, so perhaps Heath Ledger’s depiction of a schizophrenic wasn’t entirely accurate. I’m going to go ahead and assume that not every person suffering from schizophrenia dresses up like a clown and shoots around their hometown trying to kill Batman. This is a film about a man who dresses up like a bat, flies around a fictional city and battles evil-doers who have names like the Penguin and the Riddler. No one in their right mind (had to slip that one in) believes that anything happening within the plot line is even slightly realistic. It isn’t reference material. It’s simple entertainment. It shouldn’t be taken so seriously.
But, I’ve gotten a little off track. In regards to us ad people, I guess what it comes down to is the fact that people enjoy thinking we’re all shallow, money hungry, soulless fiends who are determined to amplify insecurities, brainwash our audience and generally stir the pot. I can say with a fair deal of certainty that most people in our industry made the decision to give advertising a go simply because they saw a funny or touching advertisement one day. And in life, you need a job. That’s all advertising is. A job. It’s not some kind of evil secret society that’s hell bent on world domination.
People need to realise that individuals who produce work in a creative forum rarely wish to do anything other than entertain their audience. We may wish to encourage thought and conversation. We may occasionally attempt to do this in a risqué or ‘edgy’ manner. But we rarely, if ever, set out to offend. It seems to me that getting your knickers in a twist over such content is a waste of time and energy. Time and energy that could be better spent contributing positively to the issues that these people are clearly so passionate about.
Tags: Adelaide, Advertising Agency, SeeSaw Advertising, South Australia
