Part of the usual routine of working in advertising is to read Ad Age and see what scandalous happenings are going on in the world of persuasion. It is like our US Weekly. Knowing that millions of ad-eyes see this publication daily, it is not surprising that ABC Family took an your face strategy, however it is more than just an interesting attempt to gain brand attention and a serious admission to struggling advertising dollars on the network.
With this economy, everyone is feeling the effects of having to scrape for a few extra bucks whenever possible. Whether it is pulling a Starbucks from your menu one day a week or cutting back on the shopping, businesses are no different. Often the first budget cut happens of course with the free donuts on Fridays, and then advertising. While some businesses may think that it isn't wise to spend more on advertising during a recession it is actually the best time to be showcasing their brands and trying to connect with consumers. Yes, we may not be buying as much or as frequently but we are always looking. It is in our nature to shop as consumers. When the time comes that we have a few extra bucks in our pocket, don't you want you brand to be top of mind? ABC Family sure does.
Posted on Ad Age online ABC Family's ad, as shown above, is focused around the facts. It makes it easy for advertisers to decide if this is a good media placement because says exactly who is watching their shows: Millennials (also known as Generation Y). There is a lot of debate about exactly how old this age group is, but it is safe to say that they are in their teens and early 20s. ABC Family is talking about the teenagers here (and maybe give or take a few viewers in their 20s). This is a generation that is consumed with media and social networking and has for the most part, grown up with the Internet. Many refer to this generation as the MTV generation in regards to how they use and demand information through various media. What this means for a channel like ABC Family is that this generation of viewers want to watch edgy, fun, and mindless shows that will capture their attention and talk about the things that mirror their own lives. The shows that ABC Family is highlighting in this ad, deliver exactly those things to the Millennial viewer.
The show statistics are most likely something that advertisers who are interested in buying space on the channel already know however by ABC Family making it obvious it keeps the channel top of mind. If you have teenage Millennials that you are trying to reach with your brand message then you would be foolish not to advertise on ABC Family right? Well, while the ad provides reputable sources for their information and it gives advertisers the chance to engage with the brand to learn more about what the channel has to offer, proceed with caution. With hope that it takes a lot more than just a few facts to make a decision on where you advertise, ABC Family's attempt at speaking to these decision makers without giving much insight to the content of these shows may not end well.
Too often, brands take a plunge for something that is growing in popularity without considering the media as a whole. Take the show The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which has now come into its second season on the channel. The show is about a teenage girl who becomes pregnant (after her first time having sex) and decides to keep her baby and continue on with her "normal" life. It shows all the ups and downs and possible repercussions of teenagers engaging in sexual activity. Admittedly I have watched this show (yes, more than once), and while it doesn't promote sex, in some ways it does justify actions and unintentionally glamorizes teenage pregnancy. All of the characters are consumed with this idea of having sex and the dialogue is chock full of the word. While the show tries desperately to highlight all of the negative impacts of teens having sex, it does not address all sex and pregnancy issues. Depending on one's personal beliefs, this show can highly contradict the moral ground of consumers and advertising on the show may come across as a brand's belief system as well. Teenagers may not even make this connection or even be paying attention during commercial breaks, but if ABC Family is trying so hard to gain more advertising dollars through facts, their audience must also be aware of the show's content to which they may appear.
It may not be fair, but in order to avoid potential conflict it is necessary that advertisers look beyond the facts of #1 in scripts, etc and consider what is being said in these shows and how they are viewed among these Millennials. As advertisers we would like to assume that our brands do not reflect the media in which they occur but we have seen it happen before - advertisers pulling out of buys because of disruptive content to consumers. Most recently we have seen this occur with Glenn Beck's show on Fox News. It has been discussed before, but after making remarks that alluded to President Obama being a racist, major brands such as Walmart, CVS and Best Buy (to name a few) are going to be pulling their buys out of the program. Why? Because they don't want the public to assume that because the run an ad in the span of his show that they too believe that President Obama is a racist. We don't want to believe that it could be interpreted that way, but we are a judgmental bunch and for these brands it is better to be safe than sorry. Persuasion doesn't just happen among brands to consumers but it can happen to advertisers as well. While ABC Family does have a strong viewership among Millennials, brands should understand the content before they jump between the messages of these shows. The Secret Life of the American Teenager is not the only show with controversial content and this is probably the reason why viewership is so high to begin with. We all like a little drama and controversy, but brands beware.
The last thing we need is to see brands like LipSmackers or Clearasil fighting a claim that they "endorse" teenage pregnancy...
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