Sad-vertising

Copywriter, Scamp recently posted an article on his blog about whether ads should be happy or not. His favourite ads have all been fairly dark.

A guy called David Bonney replied with an article that he’d written for Admap all about what he had coined Sad-vertising. He argues that sad stories often provide the most emotion. His article starts with this incredibly powerful script:

“A middle-aged man plays a tape cassette:

“Son, I know it’s many years since we talked. But, as you may know, I am dying and I won’t get a chance to see you.

I wanted to tell you I’m sorry… and I love you”.

The tape ends. The man cries.

You can rely on Maxell Tapes.”

Faris has posted on why brands need to embrace their dark sides:

“Now, brands need to embrace their shadows. Shadows are qualities deemed unacceptable and thus are usually hidden, by brands and by people. But if brands could tap into their shadows, they would allow consumers to express and normalise the negative feelings they all have, and this build much stronger relationships with them.

“To create stronger, robust, believable brands, we must turn to the dark side.”