French gaming company PMU (Paris Mutuel Urbain) recently released a series of ads sure to upset a lot of Americans. The first, shown below, depicts a pair of police officers who place a bet with each other and inadvertently assassinate JFK.
The second ad shows the captain of the Titanic making a bet about how long he could steer the ship with his eyes closed. As a result, he crashes into the iceberg that resulted in the death of thousands in freezing waters.
The obvious objective of these two ads is to gain earned media. The controversial nature begs media to talk about it, which they have, and for consumers to share it (either in disgust or glee).
Ignoring the offensiveness of these ads, I want to briefly address a larger underlying issue – these ads send the wrong message to gamblers.
The tagline under the PMU logo at the end translates, “We bet you’ll win.” And yet, both ads show the gambler losing and suffering very severe consequences. So although these ads will be funny to some and certainly gain media attention, they send the wrong message to the target audience. “Come gamble with us and lose big!”
Don’t just be funny offensive to grab headlines. Be smart funny. Send the right message.