Ladbrokes and Lemurs
Ladbrokes has just announced a new advertising campaign that features nothing less that a few lemurs. The commercial spot is taking over the online google searches like crazy with keywords about the hilarious new commercial.
Ladbrokes of course is one of the most popular and successful online slots casino companies in the world, and it is clear that they have a good sense of humor. All of their marketing is very clever, and clearly they know that the way to stay present in somebody's mind is to make them laugh, or at least raise some eyebrows. Their commercial campaigns in the past have always pushed the envelope but kept things light and funny. Still, the resident Advertising Standards Authority has red flagged them several times for being too provocative.
Examples of their past campaigns include a popular one in which a man covered in food jumps into a shark infested body of water, and another in which a skydiver jumps out of a plane with a shrinking parachute. All of these commercials have a cartoon like quality to them, similar to the dry and dangerous humor of the Roadrunner Looney Tunes bits.
Of course any intelligent human being would be able to infer that these are not serious commercials, but they are meant to grab hold of your attention through laughter or a jarring comic sense.
Still, that is not enough for the ASA, which has forced the company to pull several of their campaigns off the air. Their latest lemur idea features a playful hide-and-seek animal, and it really plays it safe in the face of the ASA’s repeated threats. Hopefully the ASA will allow it, and not find some random thing to ding the company for this time.
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