No, You Didn't! Jessica Tsai - CRM Magazine go to original
Featuring an African American boy dancing to DJ Casper's Cha Cha Slide while eating a Happy Meal, this ad ranks as the favorite McDonald's commercial on Google's YouTube.com.
When marketers try to reach a particular demographic, the successes - and failures - reflect on all of us. Some advertising campaigns seem like the best idea ever - until the complaints start rolling in. And yet some of the response still remains a matter of perception. The following three campaigns received mixed reviews. You can judge for yourself. NaCo When Abercrombie & Fitch began hawking T-shirts featuring Chinese caricatures and the slogan "Wong Brothers Laundry Service: Two Wongs Can Make It White," the backlash was immediate. Why, then, was clothing company NaCo so successful a few years later with T-shirts brandishing slogans such as "Brown is the New White" and "G is for Greencard"? Those were seen as humorously ironic instead of offensive because they were created from within: They weren't a result of White America's "creativity," but of Mexico-based NaCo's efforts to target Mexican consumers; the T-shirts "started as gifts from friends to bring back the nostalgia of what it meant to be from Mexico," explains Valerie Romley, chief research officer at Moving Target Research Group. Anticipating widespread popularity in America, NaCo ventured across the border, heading straight for Macy's last July. The response wasn't what NaCo had hoped for. "America being as [politically correct] as it is today, pretty soon [Macy's] was threatened with anti-immigration statements and boycotts," Romley says. Accused of not understanding Hispanic consumers or culture, Macy's soon pulled the shirts and made a public apology. NaCo also apologized, for not realizing how "sensitive" the U.S. market was, and released a statement hoping consumers would "understand that we're all about embracing negative stereotypes, so as to help put everyone on an even playing field." i-am-asian.com McDonald's, a truly global brand, has created several minority-specific Web sites in the U.S.: MeEncanta (Hispanics), 365Black (African Americans), and i-am-asian (Asians). But homogeneity,
a problem within any minority, is especially apparent in Asians: There's East Asian, Southeast Asian, Asian Indian - and, within each of those, divisions of national, regional, and linguistic nature. No company has the budget to create a site for every subsegment; but to assume that all Asian Americans literally fit into a single room - even a virtual one - risks a serious backlash. "It's a really harmless room," says Cecil Apostol, co-chair of the Asian American Student Collective and the Filipino Student Organization. "It's not like they're saying 'Ching Chang Chong.'" But then there's the sign for bubble tea, paper cranes in the corner, and a random T-shirt that reads, "I aim to be the best," not-so-subtly drawing on the stereotype of academic perseverance. According to Asian American ad firm IW Group, which developed the campaign, every element of the room was selected based on research, and the intent was to help young Asian Americans "recognize that this brand is a brand that understands you." With more than 11 million hits, the site has reached a higher percentage of its target audience than either the MeEncanta or 365Black sites. McDonald's Cha Cha Slide Featuring an African American boy dancing to DJ Casper's Cha Cha Slide while eating a Happy Meal, this ad ranks as the favorite McDonald's commercial on Google's YouTube.com. While the ad may have "cute" appeal, not everyone sees it that way. Ron Campbell, president of strategic research and consulting company Campbell-Communications, argues there's a fine line between cultural cues and stereotyping. "The [song] is universal, but not likely to fit the hip-hop image of the young kid," he says. "He's too young for that 'in-the-'hood' look." That style choice pushes the campaign into stereotyping, Campbell says: "It still would have worked if he was not a caricature of a hip-hop teenager." This ad contributes to (and plays on) the link between African Americans and hip-hop culture, and, given the controversy over hip-hop lyrics, risks perpetuating an image that is not universal to the overall group. Contact Editorial Assistant Jessica Tsai at jtsai@destinationCRM.com.
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Business News | March 2008 
Jessica Tsai - CRM Magazine
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