J.C. PENNEY AND AD AGENCY DISAVOW RACY AD There is nothing more embarrassing than a major company like J.C. Penney and its ad agency trying to disavow an award-winning racy ad they created and approved. But that's the case after the ad appeared on YouTube and began receiving criticism. It is reminiscent of "Just For Feet's" famous Super Bowl ad that was dubbed "Just for Racists" after it showed guys tracking, drugging and then putting running shoes on a Kenyan runner. The folks at "Just for Feet" unsuccessfully attempted to sue their ad agency. Shortly thereafter the shoe store went out of business. 06-24-2008
J.C. Penney Faults Fake Ad on YouTube Recent Branding Effort Is Mimicked in Video; Saatchi Cites a Vendor By CHERYL LU-LIEN TAN, Wall Street Journal 06-24-2008 J.C. Penney Co. officials are upset about a racy, fake advertisement on YouTube in which the retailer appears to be endorsing teen sex, and they are blaming the company's ad agency, Saatchi & Saatchi. The purported ad, which surfaced on the Internet after winning a prestigious international advertising award at Cannes this past weekend, shows two teenagers in their own bedrooms stripping down to their underwear and then timing themselves as they race to put on their clothes. All this is done in preparation for the boy and girl to hang out in her basement while her mother is upstairs. The video, called "Speed Dressing," ends with the teens heading down to the basement as the words "Today's the day to get away with it" flash on the screen, echoing Penney's use of the phrase "Today's the day to..." in a series of ads it launched last year. Penney's logo and "Every Day Matters" slogan then appear on the screen. Mike Boylson, chief marketing officer for the Plano, Texas, retailer, said he was "terribly disappointed" when he first saw the video Monday, after another Penney official noticed it on blogs that described the video as a Penney ad. Mr. Boylson said he still was questioning Saatchi late Monday to find out how the video got made and has instructed Saatchi to take any action it can to have the ad removed from the Internet. "It's obviously inappropriate and nothing we would ever condone," he said. "We're very disappointed that our logo and brand position were used in that way." In a statement late Monday, Saatchi, a unit of Publicis Groupe SA, said the ad was created by a third-party vendor "without J.C. Penney's knowledge or consent...Saatchi & Saatchi did not enter the spot and deeply regrets the message this ad presents." Epoch Films, the New York production company that was listed as entering the ad in the Cannes Lions Awards, declined to comment. Mr. Boylson said the video may have been filmed after hours by a producer at Epoch who was working on the Penney ads for Saatchi. Link to entire article: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121427510647899199.html
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