Ad campaign for new Mac?s drink leaves bad taste in adults? mouths
In-your-face ads have some people holding their noses
By Brian Kelly
Local News - Friday, May 06, 2005 @ 09:00
Tammy Gowan knows what demographic Mac?s Convenience is targeting with its new Bloody Zit drink.
It?s not her.
?Adults no. Kids yes,? said the mother of three outside a Mac?s store at Second Line East and Goulais Avenue.
?That sign turned me off.?
Gowan is referring to a promotional poster for the new drink. It features a male squeezing a pimple on his face. Pus from the raised spot is seen falling into a container.
The illustration is part of an in-your-face campaign that has some, such as Gowan, holding their noses and others eager for another taste of the recently introduced flavoured ice drink.
Mac?s is targeting young people, or tweens, aged 12 to 17 with the recently launched beverage, said the company?s marketing manager.
?We?ve really honed in on our tweens and sour is the buzz right now,? said Tina Rizzo in a telephone interview.
?With the overall campaign, we wanted to create something edgy. It?s exciting because it?s new for summer.?
The Bloody Zit drink was in place in all of Mac?s 600-plus Ontario stores by April 25.
Several students at a west-end public school praised the Bloody Zit?s taste, but acknowledged Mac?s advertising might leave a bad taste in the mouths of adults.
?The posters look pretty offensive,? said Joey Krmpotich, a Grade 7 student at H. M. Robbins. ?Once you try (a Bloody Zit), they?re pretty good.
All the kids like them. They have different flavours.?
A change to a more docile name might encourage older customers to work up a thirst for the sour cherry drink, he added.
?Older people might think (Bloody Zit) is gross,? said Krmpotich.
The beverage comes in three sizes priced from $1.29 to $1.89.
Consumers can make the drink even tarter by choosing from among four seasonings such as Pus Powder and Flesh Eating Bacteria.
Josh Wagner, 12, was grossed out when he first saw the poster.
?I didn?t like the picture,? the Grade 7 student explained.
But that didn?t dampen his thirst for a Bloody Zit. He bought a medium-sized drink and adding all four seasonings. Wagner is game to try one again.
Dalice Cote, a Grade 6 student, tried a Bloody Zit with her friend and liked it. But the 11-year-old would welcome a different drink name and promotional poster.
The Bloody Zit drink is the latest in a string of gross-out confectionery items that young people can buy. They sport names such as Blood Suckers, Bean Gum Snot Shots and Extreme Pus Balls.
Stink Blasters offer action figures and collectible game cards with characters such as Butt Breath Bob, Barfin? Ben, B.O. Brian and The Silent Gasser.
Mac?s new product is taking its spot in a society that is much different from what parents and grandparents may remember from their youth, said Rizzo.
?Look at what they?re exposed to day in and day out, the video games that they?re playing? she said.
?Grand Theft Auto (a gory video game where players steal cars, beat up thugs and solicit prostitutes) is one of the top games for these folks. The younger generation is very different from you and I when we were young.?
Mac?s is receiving ?mixed? feedback from customers about the drink campaign, she said.
An Algoma University College psychology professor says gross has proven good for generations of youngsters.
?The notion of children having their attention drawn by things that are disgusting isn?t a new one,? said Arthur Perlini. ?It is a case that for millennia children have been trying to gross their parents out.?
And in a crowded marketplace where different businesses are offering the same product, a slushie, dressing up the drink with a stomach-churning name can help fuel consumer demand, he said.
?Mac?s cleverly taken advantage of a tendency of kids in that age group and marketed a product around that,? said Algoma?s vice-president academic.
?It has grabbed people?s attention.?
Rizzo touted the sour cherry flavour as an exclusive to Mac?s and the add on seasonings as ?very innovative.?
?We?re really quite excited because we are the first ones to bring this to market,? she said.
The convenience store chain has focused on humour and disgust in its ad campaign in a bid to make itself stand out, said Perlini.
Besides the gross factor, young people who make the drink as tart as possible and polish it off could earn kudos from their peers, he added.
Dalice Cote, one of the students at H.M. Robbins, recognized a challenge component to the new drink.
?I think when kids see Bloody Zit they dare themselves to try it,? she said.
But if it?s Bloody Zit in 2005, could consumers expect to find a more graphic drink offered to them in the future?
Perlini said that depends on just how far the public is willing to let companies such as Mac?s push the envelope.
?The market will determine where the line is drawn,? he said. ?The market will dictate what products will sell and whether the marketing strategies to sell these products are effective.?
Rizzo said it is too early in the Bloody Zit campaign, which began April 25, to compare sales of the sour drink to the regular slushy beverages.
?We?re trending along where we expected,? she said.
The bright colours associated with the ad campaign caught the attention of Melissa Paradis, 17.
?It?s really bright,? said The Co-op School student. ?It stuck out.?
And because of that, she might be persuaded to give one a taste.
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