(Or how to fuel controversy to get free publicity.)
Sun Media reports today that Noel Biderman, the CEO of the Ashley Madison ‘dating website for married people looking to have affairs’ is threatening to sue the Toronto Transit Commission for refusing to wrap its streetcars with his ad with the headline: "Life is short. Have an affair.” The result? More free publicity for someone who has figured out how to leverage controversy to raise awareness of and visits to his website.
Earlier this year, CTV had refused to air a TV commercial for Ashley Madison with essentially the same message. That too got Mr. Biderman tons of free publicity.
During the summer of 2008, Ashley Madison posted a billboard in Times Square with the same message. Fox and many others reported on it before it was removed due to complaints.
Mr. Biderman is quoted in the Village Voice saying that the ‘controversy has aroused massive interest’. I bet. And with more than 2.5 million users, Mr. Biderman must be laughing.
But he won’t win awards for creativity. His headline is rather close to one used in 2007 by a Chicago-based law firm that generated a fair bit of publicity on national scale. According to ABC News “the ad was the brainchild of Corri Fetman, who told ABC News' Law & Justice Unit, "Law firm advertising is boring…Everything's always the same. It's lawyers in libraries with a suit on and the law books behind them. They don't say anything. What, I should hire you because you have a law degree? C'mon. So we wanted to try something different."
Perhaps Ms. Fetman will consider suing Mr. Biderman for plagiarism. More free publicity.
Here's some unsolicited advice for Mr. Biderman. Invest in a bilingual site and try your shock advertising approach in Quebec. I'd be curious to see what reaction you get. Judging by this Angus Reid data, it seems that having affairs isn't as controversial:
What is morally acceptable? Married men and/or women having an affair.
- Atlantic 10%
- Quebec 35%
- Ontario 10%
- Prairies 14%
- Alberta 10%
- BC 10%
For more on Quebeckers and cheating, read this post from last summer.
Comments