Yesterday the DDB WWF ad sparked a little debate round the office on the subject of shock ads, it was amazing how quickly and fiercly the fuse burnt once lit! THis section of the email trail literally flew around in under five minutes. Some interesting questions were raised, does the message get lost? Is any conversation good conversation? Do shock ads work? What I really would like to see is what impact the ad has on donations after this little storm. Anyone else have an opinion?

Read from the bottom up.

From: Wade

Ahhhh … but we are critiquing the ad from the perspective of “is that an inappropriate message in relation to 9/11?”

The WWF message is getting lost …….. we are debating the WRONG topic.

Well done Drew – you Sh*t starter …….. my turn now

Ok … so which religion is BETTER Christianity or Buddhism?

From: Chris

Can an ad’s success be measured by the conversation it produces or the opinions it polarises?

From: Phillip

Agree with all comments, Wade definitely agree comparing man made to nature is ridiculous. What we need to do with things like the tsunami is humanise them, they are seen as things that happen somewhere else and a number is just a number.

Having said this look at the email trail, definitely got the office talking about serious issues....

From: Kristina

Fair point, but surely  there is a better way to show the value of third world life than belittle that of the US?

Though I guess it may indirectly touch an element of human nature we might not like to admit – we only instill value on something by taking it away from something else.

If we are talking about minute silences, there isn’t actually anything official for 9/11 in the States that I’m aware of… or the Bali bombing for that matter which was in the same vicinity of the tsunami..

Lots of talking points here Drew, nice debate starter!!!!

From: Tom

Disagree.

I think it makes an important point (perhaps unwittingly) about the value of third world life in relation to US lives. Where is the one minute of silence for the Tsunami victims (which seems far more relevant to Australia than terrorism to me).

From: Nikk

I completely agree. Never would have thought an organization like the WWF would stoop this low and feel it necessary to compare with and almost belittle 9/11.

The hell?!!

From: Kristina

Agreed Wade.

I actually find that disgusting – the comparison holds no merit whatsoever, how can you compare the two?!?

And more importantly WHY should we compare the two?! They are two equally devastating events, the body count should absolutely not be used as a hook to “respect” one over the other..

Very powerful image and it will no doubt get people talking but I think it’s a really poor way of getting this message across.

From: Wade

FAIL

I get that they tapped into the destruction of 911 because of the global impact that story had to get cut through, but it feels a little icky because the comparison is made to a man made act of terrorism which takes it off brief in my opinion.

I look at the ad more like -  “imagine if terrorism escalated” rather than going “isn’t mother nature a powerful thing that should be respected.”

From: Drew

http://blog.stephengates.com/2009/09/03/ddb-wwf-tsunami-twin-towers-ad-powerful-or-despicable/