The Naked Truth Billboard

This advert caused a lot of controversy last year that it had to be taken down. It got so many labels, from “masterpiece in advertising” to “outrageous”. I, however am not here to criticise, nor to praise, I am here to analyse.

This advert showed a picture of a naked woman with the tagline “the naked Truth” to advertise The Voice Newspaper. According to (Christy, 2006)  this type of advertising is more pervasive in people’s lives, increasing the likelihood that consumers outside a target market will be exposed to messages that are not intended for their viewing. Furthermore, the head of city council legal department as cited by (Staff Reporter, 2011) stated that “The law states that if a billboard is objectionable in style and presentation and the public complains, then it must be pulled down”. People did complain, so it was removed.

Now this begs the question, “who are these people that complained?” which then leads to the question “who was this advert intended for?” According to their website (www.thevoicebw.com) anyone who can read is a potential customer. Then I believe it is safe to conclude that this advert was meant for all to see, hence its central location. Sometimes an Ad has to be daring, in your face for it to get the message across. What message you may ask? Well if you still talk about it with your friends, you could be discussing how disgusting it was, or how awesome it was, the fact still remains that it is still placed in your mind. This is the art of advertising!

A good advert is an advert that gets people talking. The most powerful method of advertising and most effective by far is Word Of Mouth. It is cheap boundary-less and efficient. Sex sells simply because it gets the people talking, whether we like the adverts its irrelevant, what is important is the more I like it the more I talk about it... The more I dislike it the more I talk about it. Either way the job of the advert has been manifested. The subconscious mind is a very powerful thing it will combine the message of the ad along with the company it is being presented by next time we come across the company it will spark our interest and as a result it will remain in our long term memory bank.

Sex sells... It depends how tasteful it was done.

JuJuvine Combi Stickers

I saw this sticker in one of the Tlokweng combis the other day, the ones that pass by the University of Botswana.  And I was deeply impressed by its shear simplicity yet its ingenious potential to affect sales. We all know how combi men love their  stickers. One would think within the combi-man world, the more stickers you have on your combi, the more respect you earn. And the more outrageous the wording on your sticker the more outrageous the...conductor aka condae is I guess. For example, im sure most of us (ok by US I mean FCCs- frequent combi climbers) love the “mma, stop smiling at the driver, he’s married” sticker. Or how about the one that says “Lesa go jela mo officing yame, a o ka rata ha nka jela mo officing ya gago?” –“ Stop eating in my office, would you like it if I ate in your office?”   

Anyway yes, back to the topic at hand. What I saw in the Tlokweng combi was not just a sticker. It served three purposes.

1.      it is an advert for the JUJUVINE ulbum. There is Jujuvine’s face pasted on the cd to grab the commuters’ attention. Once the attention is held, the advert then proceeds to inform the reader that the ulbum is out, further giving the contact details of where the cd might be found. Consumers like convenience. Therefore, the makers of this were advert right to place this advert right there inside that combi. Here the audience, which in this case is the UB students since they are the ones that are always blasting away at Jujuvine’s music and obviously because this combi transports them from school to stats everyday. The audience has the time to read the advert, understand exactly what it is about and then take down the details so as to call and buy the cd later. No hassle!

2.      It acts as an instruction manual. These days as most of us know (by US I am referring to BD- ba dikoloto) that times are hard and it is in our best interests to cut down on unnecessary costs. That is why we do not see a lot of condaes nowadays, eish times are hard. Now that the driver has saved costs on condae they hav to take up two roles- to collect the money and pack the combi. And if the driver is not looking, he’ll never notice that he’s losing money on the empty space at the back seat where four people are supposed to occupy the seat.  This sticker is the driver’s right hand man. It instructs the passengers to fill up the back seat. Clever!

3.      Last but not least, the sticker is there to entertain the passenger. Many believe that humour is the best way to get people interested. There is humour in that the sticker instructs people to do the very same thing that combimen and condaes all over Africa are always telling their passengers- FILL UP THE BACK SEAT! Why cant we listen? I know Im getting off at the last stop but I still refuse to sit ko back seat. Well, maybe it’s because the damn thing was built to carry 4 Chinese midgets! Not voluptuous African sisters!

Bimbos Billboard

Picture this: Your kid brother is in the other room, kicking it with his boys. Through the cup that’s firmly pressed against the wall you hear him utter the words, “E monate le motshegare”. Tell me this, what do you think your reaction would be? Honest truth!

Before you do that, let’s not be rude and include those who are not blessed with our mother tongue in this conversation. It means, “Its nice even in the afternoon”. Yes, I think this sentence should never be translated because now it has lost all meaning.

Well my first reaction was the dropping of my jaw to the floor, followed by the oh so devilish crooked smile, and finally coupled by the involuntary shaking of my head. I am certain the creators of that advert had exactly those 3 reactions in their brilliantly perverted little minds when they came up with it. Let me break it down for you.

Reaction 1: jaw drop- “OMG! My 16year old brother’s having sex!”

Reaction 2: devilish smile-“ Heheheh..that lil devil! He be getting it in the afternoons too?!”

Reaction 3: head shake- “nah...that’s not possible. (Just like others would say, nah...this ad is in Botswana, they can’t be talking about sex) He must be talking about BIMBOS. They recently started operating in the afternoons too. Yep, he is definitely referring to BIMBOS.”

People you have to love advertising! It is the mother of all professions. Marketers get to play with people’s emotions, determined their reactions and ultimately their actions. Those geniuses were in their factory, with their lab coats, and goggles cooking up this ad.

1. I bet they were like: “let’s shock them. Shock them with what? ...SEX! Yep, that gets them everytime.”

2. Then: “let them think about it a little bit. Get them to marinate on it”

3. Finally: “wait for it...wait for it.., it will click in their minds what this is refereeing to. If it doesn’t, who cares atleast we got to grab their attention long enough for them to notice the delicious fried chips in the ad. *evil underground lair laugh*

That my friends, is the beauty of ADVERTISING!

PS: unless you are a little crazy like my mother and start overanalysing the advert and end up thinking your 16 year old son is having sex with BIMBOS in the blazing hot afternoons of Botswana like a little sex crazed animal, this advert is definitely meant for you.