Maybe too much publicity is not a good thing after all.”

September 19

“
Calvin Klein (p66) consistently used sock advertising as a way of generating enormous controversy and publicity. (Congregationally I’m thinking of the Mary and Joseph in bed billboard here.) Certainly it made a little known company (church) stand out, but such a strategy can seriously backfire. (There was a backlash from the community.) Barnados 2000 advertising campaign was rejected because it was too shocking (This was the death row series) but this nevertheless generated an extra 5% in donations. I wander if the church experienced an extra 5% in bums on seats?
If the purpose of advertising is to attract attention, the billboard certainly did that; likewise it aroused interest and created an opinion. (p.73). For me anyway it did not “stimulate a desire” or “move me to a specific action” so perhaps the campaign was not sufficiently thought through?
( 150 words