Entertainment

The Shock Of The New Ads

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

October 29, 1999 / 12:32 PM EDT / CBS

Ugly scars and wounds are usually covered up for television. But in a new Nike commercial, they are prominently displayed.

Some people find it offensive, and others don't get it. But people are talking about the Nike commercial and a whole new wave of shock ads.

Anthony Vagnoni of the industry publication Ad Age, talked about the hot new advertising strategy on The Early Show. on Thursday.

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Earlier this month, Nike unveiled a new commercial titled "Beautiful." To the tune of the popular song, "You are so beautiful," it focuses on athletes showing off their injuries. At the end, there's a Nike swoosh and the tag line " Just Do It."

"It's supposed to solidify Nike's reputation with athletes as understanding what motivates them getting into their soul, really tapping into the sense of dedication that athletes have for their sport," Vagnoni says.

The ads don't tell the stories behind the injuries. People are supposed to figure that out or just get the idea. One is a surfer who has a huge scar on his leg from a shark bite.

The last man shown in the ad pulls off his eye patch to reveal a scarred eye. It turns out he is a rodeo cowboy blinded in one eye by a bull.

What all these people have in common is that they continued on with their sport. That's the theme for Nike, and it's an appeal to the tenaciousness and courage of athletes. While most people won't get gored by a bull, the athlete within them knows what it's like to pull a muscle or fall down and get right back up to run or ski again.

Advertising experts say this is what it takes to break through the commercial clutter. Now there's been a rash of what they're calling "extreme" or "shock" ads.

While Nike has always been an advertising pioneer, the dot.com companies are fueling this new wave. They're responsible for most of the "shock" ads out there.

There is one from computer equipment seller Outpost.com, that shows gerbils being fired out of a cannon.

"The whole point of that campaign - it's as it says at its very beginning, 'We just want you to remember our name.' They figured they would get some name recognition with this campaign and quite a bit of media attention. Then later on down the line, they would figure out a way to tell you what Outpost.com really sold," Vagnoni says.

On another level, Vagnoni says, it speaks to the irreverent and even sophomoric young male world of the Web community. That's the type of consumers the marketrs are after, hoping that this crowd finds the campaign hysterical.

Beyond.com showed a naked man using the Internet to work at home. CNet.com showed a doctor preparing to give a rectal exam.

The new style of commercial is now being used for more traditional products. Rental car company Budget used one of the agencies that created the Outpost ads to show a traveler being electrocuted by phone lines, among other strange scenarios.

Now the pendulum is beginning to swing the other way. CNet just pulled its shock ads and replaced them with stark advertisements that explain its product, reportedly because it felt the air was too cluttered with shock ads as the holiday season approaches.

But Nike is willing to gamble on shock. This year, the company pumped up its advertising budget by nearly 50 percent, to $350 million, after a tough year during which sales dropped by nearly $1 billion and its stock price plummeted.