Veet body hair ad receives backlash

Published April 21, 2014 at 6:38 am

In marketing, creative, funny ideas can turn some campaigns into major successes. But just because an idea is creative, and some people find it humorous, doesn’t mean that the idea will be funny to everyone. In fact, when an attempt at humor strikes the wrong nerve, the end result could be a backlash that can do more harm than good to a brand’s reputation.

This is not to say that it is a bad idea to take risks in marketing. The point is that when a campaign crosses certain lines, consumers will let you know what you did wrong. For example, when a marketing campaign makes judgments on what constitutes appropriate gender presentation, specifically, what men and women should do with their body hair, the company should be prepared to handle the potential backlash.

Recently, hair-removal brand Veet created an ad that received enough criticism for the company to remove it, according to Adweek. The ad attempted to be humorous by depicting women turning into hairy men because they didn’t remove their body hair. The ad goes further to send a message that to be hair-free is womanly, and to be hairy and risk exhibiting “dudeness” is undesirable for a woman.

Although the company’s marketing department issued an apology, Adweek reported that consumers took to Facebook with responses that were not very forgiving, with some pointing out that Veet’s explanation behind the ad was not an actual apology.

It can be especially risky when the subject of humor is politically-charged. Veet’s choice to make commentary on gender through this ad, while possibly funny to some, was certainly not funny to those who did not agree.

Sometimes it can be difficult to please everyone and never offend anyone. But should potentially sensitive topics be the subject of marketing campaigns? The answer is maybe, but it is advisable to make sure they are extremely well thought-out and tastefully executed.