Shock-vertising

The use of shocking advertisements are common because they have a meaningful attraction. Whether it be good for the brand itself, it's grabbing attention from people and that's the reason for advertising. Sometimes, shock-vertising can do harm to the brand because people will assume it's the agency's perspective of the issue from the advertisement. There are different kinds of people viewing advertisements and they all have a different perspectives on them. When a person views an advertisement of a brand they aren't familiar with, they'll have a negative thought about it until they find a favourable reason to like it. Though, there are brand-loyal customers who will view such advertisements as well, which definitely makes it a difficult factor of shock-vertising, as it could easily send the wrong message to the viewer. 

Despite the possible negatives of shock-vertising, it is definitely a clever approach to promote a brand. These types of advertisements have you thinking, which means you take a few seconds or even a minute bringing your attention to it. Advertisements are created to interest you to at least consider the brand that's being advertised, but they need to grab your attention first. Shocking advertisements are attention grabbers, they make you question, understand, learn, and think. The question is whether it's worth using an shocking message to advertise a brand and whether it will damage the reputation of the brand. Every person thinks differently about everything, so it's risky to include such bizarre context to your advertisement. 

It's all about what shocking context is used in your advertisement and if it sends a positive message about the topic to the audience. It is a great benefit for an advertisement to consist of clear messages of integrity or other positive messages, but not all will be received in this manner. Obviously, agencies aren't purposely being offensive or disrespectful and that's why they need to be careful with the context and how it's used in their advertisement. It all depends on the agency and whether it is worth it to make use of shock-vertising to their them. I believe it can work well, but it can also backfire very easily. You need to be careful with what context you use and have great art direction for it, or it will only gain a negative response. All advertisements will have negative responses, but you need to advertise for an overpowering number of positive responses. That's what makes shock-vertising worth the risk. 

Some people may hate this shock-vertisement for personal or general reasons and some people may love it. There may be people who can and cannot relate, but the message is easily understood. It's definitely an overpowering positive due to the great art direction used in sending the message about this important issue. So, in this case..it was worth it for this agency(in my opinion). 

This shock-vertisement promotes marriage equality/LGBTQ as well as unified colonies. Some people do not support marriage equality and may support unifying colonies or vice-versa. Though, the message speaks about how both issues are hated on and how it will do better for the world to unhate.  It's very shocking at first and can be very difficult to support for some, but the message strives to better the world. Plus, who wouldn't want to react positively from this great, encouraging and meaningful message? I know, some people may not..but the positive message overpowers because it's advertising the issue.  I personally enjoy this advertisement as it is a great way to address this issue and because it's a very shocking attention grabber.