christopher de la Torre

I wonder what McCann Worldwide Headquarters in New York must have thought when it woke up one morning to find a buzz was already astir in response to an ad campaign released from one of its four Indian offices only a few hours before.

The Hanes ad campaign entitled, “Because the world gives you enough tags,” was spewed forth a few days ago by McCann Erickson, an agency under the McCann Worldgroup umbrella.

Who would have known a few little words would grab the attention of the blogosphere overnight? I suppose I can understand if two of those dirty little words are “nigger” and “faggot.” Seems as if Joe.My.God coined the current once again in his April 11 post “Hanes’ ‘Lipstick’ Campaign,” tracking back to Ads of the World on a grand tip from a reader named Chris (pays to have an audience that’s awake, eh?).

Andy Towle of Towleroad did “a little digging” and came up with two additional ads from Trendhunter Magazine, asking his audience if they think it “effective, or just offensive?”

To quote Trendhunter:

“In Fagg*t, you see same-sex kissing, debauchery, toys, bottles of wine and references to beauty: lipstick, nail polish and makeup. In Nigg*r, you see drugs, guns, jail cells, low-life jobs like cleaning toilets, and text about being HIV positive. In Pak! (a demeaning name for people from Pakistan), you see tanks, bullets, bombs and pigs (an anti-Islamic reference).”

Towle’s crowd has no trouble responding, but it isn’t with the sentiments most might expect from a queer audience. One reader comments, “Honestly, I think they are pretty damn amazing,” followed by an encore and an “I think they’re beautiful and inspiring” from another commentator. One reader says he likes them because they “give you pause to think of all the baggage someone has to carry around,” admitting he is “not sure how this helps to sell underwear.” From another front, Rod McCullom of Rod 2.0 says he’s “thankful” that it’s unlikely the advertisements will appear in American markets, taking special offense to the Nigg*r-referenced ad.

This latest turn in advertising resembles less of the creative twist many of us applaud and more of the Roseanne Barr-esque publicity stunt we’ve all come to loathe. Still, the art is fascinating even though the message may be inappropriate for a garment that eats shit after you get food poisoning.

I think the Indians should have just refrained from using colorful words and stuck to brilliant art, letting our imaginations do the rest. After all, that’s what advertising is so good at; it shows us what’s right in front of our noses through beautifully juxtaposed imagery — perhaps a subtlety a country of 1.1 billion can’t quite fully grasp.

What’s truly interesting here is what you find upon closer inspection. The executive officer of each marketing communications company listed at McCann Worldgroup’s website is old and white.