Comments on: Reputation Management: You’re Doing It Wrong

By: Marios Alexandrou

Marios Alexandrou — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 18:32:19 +0000

The only folks that have it harder than the Corn Refiners Association are the people that have to come up with the toilet paper ads. Dancing cartoon bears and women primping themselves just prior to exiting the bathroom. Does these commercials actually work for anyone?

By: Bob Weber

Bob Weber — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:26:51 +0000

I agree with you in theory, but we are talking about High Fructose Corn Syrup here, not Nikes. Changing a brand image on a food product is tough. Personally, I’ve never really fallen for some of the gimmicky branding by the ag community. Pork, the other white meat? Prunes are now “Dried Plums”? Seriously, where do you go with HFCS? Next thing you know the MSG manufacturers will have commercials about how that’s not going to kill you too.

As for that Vancity commercial. I LOVE it. It’s quirky, funny and memorable. All very good things.

By: Nick Stamoulis

Nick Stamoulis — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:17:31 +0000

This article is equally on point as it is hilarious. The whole Buffy’s roommate thing is even funnier… what a great way to cast!

By: mike

mike — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 11:02:23 +0000

OK, I have no affiliation with this ad, but I will play devil’s advocate for a little bit.
Did you miss the fact that after she couldn’t find anything negative to say about it, she took some of the “red death” and drank it?
I agree that the ad is missing on a lot of levels and that it’s not going about the branding properly, but there is a subtle cue in there. Perhaps instead of saying “I love that top”, she could have said, “I’m having a great time at the party!” (even though it’s a kids party) and then taken a drink.
What if that was a tacit way of saying, “You’re drinking/eating it all the time anyway, keep doing it, it won’t kill you!”?
Being that we are in the field, we see plenty of flaws in ads. Who are we to say that this doesn’t resonate with the general public? Perhaps whomever came up with this ad tested it and it tested well with what they felt was a reasonable representation of the general public.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:44:33 +0000

Lee: I don’t even have words for the stupidity of that ad. Thanks for sharing.

By: Lee

Lee — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 08:05:51 +0000

While we are on the subject, what is with this current trend of negative unpleasant ads – of your OWN product! I’m in Vancouver and the local bank Vancity (yes, they deserve to be outed) feature the most unpleasant characters and settings. Here’s a sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE4B5PoHd4Y How is this supposed to make me feel good about using their product or being associated in any way with such losers?

By: Stephen Ward

Stephen Ward — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:26:37 +0000

This reminds me of how the big plastic companies are supposedly spreading their own version of the research surrounding Bisphenol A to keep the FDA from pulling it from baby bottles.

I don't think the objective is necessarily branding; after all, how many people are going to check the labels at the grocery stores for high fructose corn syrup? The real purpose of these commercials may only be to feed consumers selective information in order to avoid legislation that, say, requires foods to use a big, "Warning: Contains high fructose corn syrup," label.

Or do they do that already?

By: Kate Morris

Kate Morris — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 06:14:33 +0000

Okay, I’m glad I’m not the only one that thinks that using Buffy’s demonic (in many ways) college roommate was a bad idea for getting your message of “we are not evil” across. Total fail there!

By: David Leonhardt

David Leonhardt — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:37:28 +0000

See why I don't watch TV?

But a more serious lesson, by a slim margin, is that one can never cast a positive image while on the defensive. One has to make positive assertions or easy to understand comparisons (like a two line graph comparing high-fructose corn sirup with something else parents might feed their kids). Given that you can prove anything with statistics, going on the defensive does seem like an amateur ploy to me.