Can you swear in marketing?

Of course it's fine for brands to swear. Wider culture, entertainment, and kids in the school yard swear much more than advertising. Advertising not swearing is a relic of marketers making their brands high-gloss and shiny. As we search for a more authentic tone from brands, swearing will become more commonplace.

mumbrella.com.au - Is it ever OK to use profanity in advertising? 4 industry execs reveal ...

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The average Australian swears about 7 times per day, but do consumers really want this language reflected in their advertising? I pose the question to four esteemed executives in ad land, who all had equally strong thoughts on the matter. Strong language seems to very commonly draw strong reactions – and many marketers are in one of two camps when it comes to their attitude towards incorporating expletives into ad speak. Several brands have benefitted enormously from their cheeky usage of profane, ‘inappropriate’ words, such as cosmetics brand Too Faced, whose ‘Better Than Sex’ mascara (which has a different name in Saudi Arabia – ‘Better than Love’) became the single best-selling mascara product across the globe, and on Australian shores. But what about brands who can’t seem to pull off the same audacity with equal success? Advertising watchdog Ad Standards receives countless complaints every day about advertisements or branding deemed inappropriate and detestable for its use of expletives. In 2018, the Cotton On Group had one of its Typo poster ads banned by the ad watchdog for putting a sticker over the “uc” in “fucking” as it was ‘still considered inappropriate and strong language’. Ultimately, the matter really isn’t black and white – and this sentiment is reflected in the responses we received from industry execs.

Do you think it’s ever appropriate for brands to use profanity in their advertising?

Of course it’s fine for brands to swear. Wider culture, entertainment, and kids in the school yard swear much more than advertising. Advertising not swearing is a relic of marketers making their brands high-gloss and shiny. As we search for a more authentic tone from brands, swearing will become more commonplace.

How do you think use of profanity realistically reflects on a brand in the eyes of consumers?

I’d put it the other way. The lack of real language used by many brands makes them feel less authentic, and slightly disconnected from consumer world. Imagine if you spoke ‘brand’ for a day – you’d sound absurd. Further, we pay more attention to swear words, as they are often deemed to convey important information. If I write ‘fuck’ here – the word fuck is what you pay most attention to. Also, some studies suggest that humans (at least, and maybe brands too) are perceived as more confident and intelligent when they swear – ie, ‘shit I did not know that’.

Some brands will insinuate profanity in their ads through wordplay or design. Do you think it’s distasteful, or tongue-in-cheek?

It’s a clever way to get attention, especially if the brand name is a part of that wordplay. FCUK did it wonderfully, BCF does it well, even Booking.com is fun too. We’re in the attention business, and attention trumps meaning, that is, on balance it’s more important that your brand gets noticed, rather than what it gets noticed for. So please swear away.

Do you think that using swear words in advertising makes a brand seem more ‘authentic’?

Brand speak can be very odd. It’s full of superlatives, justifications, and glib references to empowerment. Brands in general are moving from trying to portray an unattainable aspirational ideal, to something more more realistic and authentic. We want more brands to reflect who we are, not portray something we can never be. If the occasional ‘shit bum poo wee’ can help a brand go on that journey then good luck to them.

Clinton Hearne, head of marketing at Flight Centre:

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Do you think it’s ever appropriate for brands to use profanity in their advertising?

It’s a bit lazy isn’t it? Reaching for the narrow list of potty-words to punctuate your ad with a bit of emotion when the world is full of so many other emotive words with which you can craft your killer message. If used sparingly, perhaps a brand could be forgiven for getting a rise out of a poorly disguised F-word. But in the end it’s playing for a cheap laugh. There are other, more memorable ways to use language in advertising to get an engaging laugh without having to compromise your brand’s sophistication.

How do you think use of profanity realistically reflects on a brand in the eyes of consumers?

I genuinely think that people across most demographics who see a cheeky swear-word alluded to in an ad shares the laugh, at least inwardly. We’re no longer in the 1950s. But I think problems for a brand can arise when they want to follow up with a more sophisticated campaign seeking a more lasting impression on consumers, and all the consumer can think is, “yeah, but where’s the F-bomb” like it’s become a trademark. When you’re in a heated conversation with some one and they start to F-bomb everywhere, you immediately lose the thread of their argument and remember only the potty-words. It can be the same with advertising.

Some brands will insinuate profanity in their ads through wordplay or design. Do you think it’s distasteful, or tongue-in-cheek?

If it’s cleverly executed, with the right degree of cheekiness, and fits the product and audience, then why not? But brands have to be aware that there’s a fine line between cheeky and crass.

Do you think that using swear words in advertising makes a brand seem more ‘authentic’?

I think using swear words in ads tends to come across as a bit of a shock tactic, and therefore rarely looks authentic. A brand would have to drop F-bombs with impunity in all its communications and campaigns from day one for it to be authentically using swear-words. So, no, dropping them in every now and then for effect, is anything but authentic. Consistently using the colloquialisms and slang in our everyday language is a much more effective way to communicate your authenticity. Ben Lilley, founder at HERO Do you think it’s ever appropriate for brands to use profanity in their advertising? No. A brand’s advertising is a creative conversation with its customers. So the use of profanity is essentially the brand insulting the very people it’s trying to engage, along with everyone else unfortunate enough to be exposed to it! How do you think use of profanity realistically reflects on a brand in the eyes of consumers? A loud sweary ad is the equivalent of a loud sweary person at a party or out in public. At best it’s an annoyance for everyone around and at worst it’s insulting and disturbing. Just as most people are put off by ads with extreme violence or sexuality or even over the top sentimentality because of the extreme reactions such ads evoke, offensive or insulting ads are rarely a recipe for successful engagement. Some brands will insinuate profanity in their ads through wordplay or design. Do you think it’s distasteful, or tongue-in-cheek? If it’s done well and tonally right for the target audience, a cheeky wordplay or tongue-in-cheek fun can make a great creative campaign. This is often the difference between crude and clever. People rarely like crude but enjoy clever creativity and this can become a brand’s signature. A great example is French Connection’s rebranding to FCUK and the brilliant and cheeky, but never crude, campaigns that followed. This was an ingenious brand wordplay that was tonally spot on for the target youth audience and the business results spoke for themselves. Another cheeky example I remember from years ago was when the airline Asia X ran a promotion on flights from Melbourne to Phuket. The billboard headline on the freeway to Melbourne Airport was something like “Prices low enough to say “Phuket let’s go!” It was cheeky and irreverent and spot on for the value-oriented holiday flyers it was targeted at. Do you think that using swear words in advertising makes a brand seem more ‘authentic’? No, it makes the brand seem crass and just desperate for attention. At the end of the day, these are still business communications. And for a business to want to swear at its customers is more often not brave but just plain stupid.

Kieran Antill, executive director of brand at Big Space Agency

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Do you think it’s ever appropriate for brands to use profanity in their advertising?

Brands are the sum of all their experiences and those experiences are the responses that their actions receive. So, undoubtably some of those responses will be negative with the use of profanity. The question then becomes, what positives are gained by using profanity?

How do you think use of profanity realistically reflects on a brand in the eyes of consumers?

In almost all cases it will be for comedic effect. And humour is one of the best ways to connect with a person in the shortest amount of time. So if you can get it right, with the right audience then best of luck to you.

Some brands will insinuate profanity in their ads through wordplay or design. Do you think it’s distasteful, or tongue-in-cheek?

If it makes you laugh then the world needs more of it. It’s not profanity alone that is the issue, context is key.

Do you think that using swear words in advertising makes a brand seem more ‘authentic’?

Much like the use of profanity can make a person feel more human or imperfect, it can have the same effect for a brand. It’s all about timing and context. Dropping f-bombs in the kids playground is never a good idea but if a mortgage broker whispered to you in a private meeting “the rates are looking a bit like shit on a stick and you might not want to borrow so much” you’d be more inclined to trust them. Agree or disagree with the use of profanity, it is part of our language, so it’s fair game – as is the negative response it may well receive. Mumbrella reached out to a diverse array of executives and creative professionals for contribution to this piece including women industry experts and leaders who declined to participate.

mumbrella.com.au - Is it ever OK to use profanity in advertising? 4 industry execs reveal ...

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