The Advertising Standards Authority in the UK is suddenly up in arms about the fact that Angelina Jolie is shown toting a gun (and probably because she seems to be enjoying it too) in billboard ads for the film ‘Wanted’. This article in the Guardian (and there’s another one in Brand Republic) came out just today, and the film was released in June this year. I think the timing is WAY off. If you want something to have an impact, then you need to make your opinions heard at the right time. It’s sort of like eating food that is stone cold when you know it will taste a hundred times better when it’s hot. There’s a reason they say ‘strike when the iron is hot’, you know. And that goes for pretty much anything. It’s the reason I was impressed by BT’s ad for the Notting Hill carnival the day after the Olympics finished. If you want to seem like a brand that’s in the know, you have to keep yourself up-to-date.
The ASA clearly isn’t. They seem like kids fighting over a chocolate bar at the moment.
One Size Fits One 