Controversial Advertising: The Grim Reaper Advertisement
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Stage 1: Controversial Advertising
Grim Reaper Ad
The 1987 Grim Reaper ad was a notorious television commercial featuring the Grim Reaper bowling down people as pins in a macabre bowling alley scene. As a public awareness health campaign by the Australian government, its objective was to increase public awareness of HIV and AIDS, and to change behaviours in relation to safe sex practices. The campaign was mass market targeting all sexually active adults. Message strategies were affective utilising fear appeals around the deadly consequences of unsafe sex and HIV transmission (Fill, Hughes & De Francesco 2013, p. 137).
Selected news article discusses that although the high shock value of the ad was effective in generated strong public awareness and discussion, the government was criticised for misrepresenting facts and demonising homosexuals (McKenzie-Murray 2012). Stylianou (2010) asserts that although the ad was high in memorability, it failed to modify behaviour and encourage testing with high at risk individuals due to the strong fear factor. Indeed, Ray and Wilkie (1970) show that if the fear level is excessive, these individuals will screen out said messages that conflict with their high-risk behaviours, through perceptive selection. As such, a more effective campaign would have targeted high-risk audiences utilising positive appeals such as…show more content… The slogan “bounce back” implying her recovered from her injuries. It uses an affective message strategy by eliciting feelings around violence and success after setbacks, using humour appeals (Clow & Baack 2010, p. 203). The objective was to raise awareness of Kurl-on brand using shock tactics to gain attention. Intended target audiences are mattress shoppers 20 to 30 that lead busy lifestyles, requiring optimal