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Bed-Stuy to Virgin Mobile: ‘And you suck’ For a lesson on how not to speak to a Brooklyn neighborhood in an ad, see this Brownstoner item and its 123 comments about Virgin Mobile’s new New York City campaign. (Click here to see the ad larger.) In short, do not 1) flatter the reader by acknowledging his bullshit radar, only to then 2) lob a bullshit sales pitch at him, wrapped in pandering, faux-authentic language. You may get a reply like this one, from the comments: “Suck it, you patronizing bastards.” (The campaign is from noted NYC experts McKinney, based in Durham, N.C., and may soon be assaulting your city with similar jive talk.) To their credit, the PR people at Virgin seem to have read the Brownstoner item and want to do better. Or actually, they now want Bed-Stuy’s residents to do their work for them. —Posted by Tim Nudd

June 5, 2007 | Permalink

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Terrible. Apparently they made the copywriter watch "Do the Right Thing" a couple of times to get some "insights".

Posted by: Anon | Jun 5, 2007 11:43:59 AM

Another example of a marketer wanting to "get into the conversation" but the moment the conversation turns against them, they attempt to alter it. Sony and buzz experts Zipatoni learned this the hard way, as well. And it's also another example of an agency claiming to be cultural anthropologists, understanding every nuance of the consumer landscape. I have no doubt this campaign was sold based on "rich insights" when in reality they had no clue. But I guess Virgin has gotten their wish. They're in the conversation. But if I were them, I'd plug my ears while repeating "la, la, la, la, la"

Posted by: | Jun 5, 2007 12:28:58 PM

My pal (and co-blogger) Torchinsky did an awesome parody of this ad here:
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2007/05/the_virgin_that.html

Posted by: carrie | Jun 5, 2007 11:28:02 PM

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