Guerrilla ‘Bad’vertising: What NOT to do

March 1, 2011 by Ryan Lum - 8 comments

Guerilla Marketing can sometimes push limits. Although these marketing campaigns were actually pretty ‘effective’ in that they generated a lot of buzz, they are also more on the controversial side. These guerrilla marketing campaigns could be seen as an invasion of privacy or unethical marketing practices; however, as guerrilla marketers we cannot discount them as they were somewhat successful campaigns.

LEVI Strauss ‘Rear View Girls’

Rear View Girls depicts two models who hide a tiny camera in their jeans to capture the male admiration they receive as they stroll through Los Angeles. Several men are seen perving on the pair when the women return home and watch the footage. – Sydney Morning Herald

The viral campaign generated over 6 million views on Youtube and was aimed for “people to connect with the brand and walk away feeling good about their body” – Levi Strauss Senior Director of PR, Alexa Rudin

Superette: Thigh Advertising

“We put indented plates on bus stop, mall, and park benches, so that when people sat down, the message was imprinted on their thighs,” stated the people behind the campaign. ‘This meant that as well as having branded seats, a veritable army of free media was created, with thousands of imprints being created and lasting up to an hour.”

ADT Breaking Into Homes Guerrilla Marketing

We covered this campaign previously in the ‘ADT Advertising Campaign Breaks Into Home‘ article. This is a very clever yet invasive marketing campaign.

Zurich Insurance Fake Car Damage

Zurich Insurance went around placing stickers on unsuspecting vehicles so that when the owner came back he/se would notice a new vandalism to their automobile. Once you pull up the sticker it said, “For car repairs that are always this simple and fast, contact Zurich HelpPoint.”

Let us know if you think these indeed go too far or if they are really good examples of guerrilla marketing campaigns!