Political and Public Service Ads
Advertising with a non-commercial purpose. Campaign spots and attack ads, Daisy, the anti-smoking and road-safety films, and the public-health campaigns.
Part of Advertisements
10 moments in this segment.
- - LBJ "Daisy" Ad. September 7, 1964. Lyndon B. Johnson's "Daisy" campaign ad, little girl counting daisy petals, dissolving into a nuclear countdown. Aired ONCE; pulled after one airing. The most-cited US political ad in history; established political advertising as art form.
- - NHS "Don't Die of Ignorance". 1986. UK Department of Health's "AIDS: Don't Die of Ignorance" TV + leaflet campaign. Tombstone falls; leaflet sent to every UK household. Most consequential UK public-health campaign of the 1980s.
- - Australia "Grim Reaper" AIDS Campaign. April 1987. Australian National Council on AIDS's "Grim Reaper" TV ads, bowling pin, shaped reaper knocks down people. Most-watched Australian PSA in history. Defined the global "shock public-health advertising" template.
- - Truth Initiative Anti-Tobacco. 1999 onward. The "Truth" anti-tobacco campaign (American Legacy Foundation), guerrilla, snarky, designed for MTV audience. Drove the largest single-decade decline in US youth smoking ever measured.
- - Viagra - Bob Dole Ad. 1998-1999. Bob Dole's Pfizer-paid Viagra TV ad, the first major pharmaceutical campaign explicitly featuring a former US presidential candidate. Reshaped what direct-to-consumer pharma advertising could do.
- - Skechers Shape-Ups Scandal. 2011-2012. Skechers Shape-Ups campaign claimed the shoes would tone women's glutes. FTC settles for $40M. The most-prominent advertising-claim consumer-protection action of the early 2010s.
- - JCPenney "Mass Apology" Ad. May 2013. After Ron Johnson's disastrous CEO tenure, JCPenney runs a 30-second TV ad apologising directly to customers. The single most-noted brand-apology ad of the 2010s.
- - Maggi India Lead Recall - Brand Crisis. June 2015. Nestlé India's Maggi noodles found to contain excess lead. Banned for 5 months; Nestlé loses ~$50M weekly. The defining 21st-century Indian brand-crisis case study; Maggi's recovery campaign became a textbook example.
- - Pepsi Kendall Jenner Disaster. April 4, 2017. Pepsi's Kendall Jenner protest ad, tone-deaf appropriation of Black Lives Matter imagery. Pulled within 24 hours after universal backlash. The defining brand-marketing-disaster of 2017.
- - Gillette "The Best Men Can Be". January 13, 2019. Gillette's "The Best Men Can Be", confronting toxic masculinity. ~1M dislikes on YouTube; ~300K likes. Polarising; debated for months. Marked the peak (and breaking point) of brand-as-conscience advertising.
