Should Suicide be Eliminated From Ads Or Do People have No Humor?

GM. Washington Mutual. Chupa Chups. All did ads with a suicide theme. There were tons of complaints and ads were pulled. Is it wrong to feature suicide in ads or has the world lost its sense of humor?

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Permalink Reply by Clyde Smith on March 14, 2007 at 6:57pm: "Is it wrong to feature suicide in ads or has the world lost its sense of humor?"

I don't think it has to be an either/or situation.

But if people don't like the ads, then the company has to decide whether that's good for them or not.

Is it wrong? It's pretty tasteless and insensitive and sometimes that's funny to some people. Just cross your fingers and hope you don't put forth a scenario that kids start copying. That's always for your brand.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by miguel abasolo on March 16, 2007 at 7:37pm: Here a letter I sent to the NYTimes on the same subject:

Just wanted to comment on your column today. In the early 70s DDB ran an ad drawn New Yorker cartoon style in which a man holding a gas pump aimed at is head as if to shoot himself where the caption says "or buy a volkswagen".. The ad stuck with me because I thought is was poor taste for an agency as DDB. Now seeing as Crispin folks have aped the 60's ad layouts in print for VW, I'm kinda sure they would've seen that ad... To the GM folks, in early January '07 the body of an ex-client was found dead in a river in NY, ruled a suicide, jumped from a bridge. When I saw the ad, it was as a re-enactment. I haven't seen the other spots you refer to, but as the son of a suicide, and to all those kind folks that are ridiculing VW, GM and others for pulling their ads, all I can say it is bad judgement on the clients side to have produced this work, and no matter how a creative group would pitch it me (I've worked in the ad biz all my life), suicide as a creative hook (or archetype, or whatever term you want to call it) is not cool. Really enjoy your columns Q&A section. Regards,; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Angela Natividad on March 16, 2007 at 7:48pm: I for one am a huge proponent of suicide ads. That is all.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Shak'Quim Washington on April 5, 2007 at 11:55pm: Yeah well said ang!!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Melanie Ryan on April 4, 2007 at 6:55pm: SUICIDE HITS HOME 4 ME BECAUSE MY BOYFRIEND SUICIDEDED AFTER I TOLD HIM I WAS WITH HIS BROTHER 4 A WHILE AND THEN I ALMOST SUICIDED CAUSE I WAS SAD BUT AT THE END OF TEH DAY U HAVE 2 HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR EVEN IF SOME THINGS HIT HOME U CANT DEPRIVE OTHER PEOPLE A LUGH. ITS NOT LIKE THEY ARE PROMOTING RAPE OR KILLING OR SOMETHING. WILL OK KILLING BUT NOT KILLING OTHER PEEPS JUST YRSELF.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Shak'Quim Washington on April 5, 2007 at 11:55pm: It's ok baby I'd never suicide no matter how mean you were cause I know how to make a lady happy! You'll see!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Melanie Ryan on April 6, 2007 at 3:01pm: LOLZ!! =) U R SO FUNNY! HOW ARE YOU GOING OT MAKE ME HAPPY? A JOB WOULD MAKE ME HAPPY!!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Shak'Quim Washington on April 5, 2007 at 11:54pm: Theres a lot of posts here about whether or not things are ok or not - in my rap world there is no going too far only not going far enough. PEACE OUT.; ▶ Reply to This