Two thoughts ran though my mind the initial time I saw the image. First, a feeling of remorse came over me because I felt bad that the family had to watch a loved one on their death bed. The second thought was more of a curiosity then anything else; I wondered what he was dying from. Since the advertisement was only a picture with no words, I was left only with assumptions. Soon my thoughts and questions were answered, but the response that I received was not what I expected. When I learned that a clothing company used this image as an advertising tactic, to say the least I was shocked.

The purpose of advertising strategies is to entice the consumer into buying the product. In this case, this advertisement does more then entice, it pulls you in emotionally as well. There are several different strategies that the clothing company could have chosen. We have all seen a commercial, or picture in a magazine of a model wearing the latest and fashionable ensemble. Your reaction could be “cute outfit” but then turn the page, or channel. Instead of going the typical route, they used a more creative strategy and chose an advertisement that would draw you in, and keep you talking about it. In a strange way the advertisement is fairly successful. Just to prove how effective that advertisement was, I showed a couple of my friends the image to see what they thought about it. None of them knew it was for a clothing line, but the first thing they did was ask me questions and wondered what this was supposed to advertise. That’s how simple it is, I showed two people, they do the same, and soon it will be the object of discussion everywhere. It keeps you talking about it, it makes you want to know more, and it creates an emotion ambience. Those are the three most important things that make up an advertisement.

In conclusion, this ad campaign is powerful and frankly used to shock people. I am not totally agreeing with the route that they choose, but I must admit that it grabs my attention. Usually we as consumers are more attracted to products that make us feel happy. United Colors of Benetton choose instead to go for the shock value, and make us think. In the marketing field their goal is to get a message across to an audience, and grab the consumer’s attention. As I have mentioned above, this ad has accomplished both of those things. Overall, my opinion is even though some people could consider these ads offensive, they are very effective. Obviously, these ads are doing the trick, due to the fact that United Colors of Benetton is still in business and not showing any sign of slowing down. Many may argue that the ad doesn’t appeal to some consumers at all. The point is that you see the name brand and have a reaction whether good or bad it will cause debate and conflict of ideas.