gossip girl's advertising antics

i'll try not to do this often, but because i peruse the advertising blogs often, a lot of my personal blog fodder comes directly from there. a post on ad freak today warranted a contribution from yours truly, so here it is.

the CW's tween (and adult?) hit 'gossip girl' has been running ads in the digital space hoping to accomplish a number of things, including driving people to CWtv.com to catch up on the season they may have missed, creating buzz for the new season premiere in the fall, and just generating awareness of the show in general.

some of these you may have noticed, and ran with the tagline 'OMFG'. these were the first batch from what i can tell, and they're clever for a couple of reasons. first, they play off of the whole 'omg' thing, which i guess technically originated as IM and/or text message lingo, but has certainly earned its place elsewhere. yahoo! just named their celebrity blog 'omg', for christ's sake. anyways, the CW hit the nail on the head because this phrase (or abbreviation) resonates well with the tech-savvy generation Yers and millenials. by adding the 'f', it is clear that whatever is happening on 'gossip girl' is just shocking and awesome beyond words. oh my f*cking god.

the second batch just started running recently, and these are the ads that warrant some discussion. the ads feature racy scenes from the show's first season, and come full-circle with disapproving quotes from television critics. however, the catch is this: in one of the ads, blair waldorf's bikini that she had on in the actual episode from last season miraculously disappears. where did this bikini top go? (the shot from the actual season is below, followed by the ad.)

clearly, those involved in the creation of the ads (the creative agency obviously, and the CW, who approved them) are purposefully making the creative racier than the show content itself, in an attempt to attract those crazy kids. they're also choosing to use quotes from critics such as '[gossip girl is] mind-blowingly inappropriate.' these antics are breaking one of the fundamental rules of advertising: blatantly using sex (in this case, CREATING it!) to garner viewership. it'd be one thing if the scene was in the actual show - but here, the thought process is obviously 'sex sells', and that's pretty much it.

i have no personal qualms with the media and/or creative strategy, but when you're targeting 13-24 year olds (i'm sure the CW will tell you 18-34 .. ok, whatever), is saying 'watch gossip girl - it's inappropriate, and the chicks get naked and do it in the pool' ... dare i say, inappropriate?

the show:



the ad:


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