Advertising ethics and the demise of marketing

The question whether Marketing as a vital corporate discipline is losing ground is not new. Marketers are more and more seen as tacticians and specialists and the influence of marketing as strategic tool is weakening. An additional problem for marketers is that the influence of marketing (at least of old-style mass marketing) on customers is also diminishing. While less people look to television advertising or base their choices on what companies say about their products or services some creative advertisers try to reverse the tide using every trick in the book including using very provocative advertisements or commercials aiming at attracting attention by means of extreme visuals or use of street language. A nice example combining both these approaches is the pizza advertisement TV spots we see here in Holland these days and you can also enjoy in YouTube. I am really curious abut the effect of these provocative commercials on the product and the brand but judging from some of the reactions and comments of YouTube viewers I am glad that there are more people who are annoyed by them. Hopefully the spot creators will take the trouble to read some of these comments and draw their conclusions before it is too late.Rather than try to be provocative marketers should try to understand what is going on around them and find some better way to try to attract peoples’ attention.