Eliot Spitzer’s Girl to Find Calling in Advertising?
- Posted by Maria Marcotte on March 19th, 2008
filed in Advertising, Marketing |
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An article today in Advertising Age http://adage.com/article?article_id=125794 reports that “the owner of Georgi vodka says that he is in talks to put the derriere of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s call girl on the backside of every bus in New York.” The company that owns the US rights to the Georgi vodka brand reports that it is close to making a deal with Ashley Dupre. They want to feature her as this year’s Georgi “butt girl” pinup that the brand places on city buses and taxis.
Wow. On one hand, I admire the marketing balls. Taking a controversial and timely issue and mating it with one’s brand. On the other hand, I cannot shake the image of Spitzer’s obviously anguished wife and I cannot help but empathize with the pain his family must be enduring.
I can only conclude: I am SO not the target audience for the Georgi vodka brand. What do you think? Who is the audience? What are they supposed to think if this campaign ever sees the light of day? Is this a legitimate liaison of marketing and current events or is it something sordid? Where do you stand on this issue?
Photo Credit: Ashley Alexandra Dupre/Entertainment Pictures
March 19th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
While you are not the target market, it’s just in bad taste. Or is it? I’ve never heard of this Vodka before? Without jumping on the 3 minutes of fame that an exposed goverment prostitute has, I still wouldn’t know about this vodka. It really would be nice if the average consumer had an attention span longer than 3 minutes but in a world of text messages and Google at my fingertips, I’m afraid this will sell vodka.
March 20th, 2008 at 7:10 am
Perhaps I’m oversimplifying, but as distasteful as it may be, I think the idea will sell a lot of vodka. I’m not familiar with this brand, being a Grey Goose devotee, but I’ll know to look for it now. And if the former governor feel a little guilty every time he gets behind a bus, then that’s not all bad.