The spot: An attractive woman waits in a restaurant. Her date arrives, but before she can say a word, he places his hands against her lips - he is on the phone. A montage of bad date cliches follows: he blows his nose, picks his teeth, checks out other women, sends texts from his phone, and gestures that eating dessert will make his date fat. Over this sequence, the narrator says, "Have you ever found yourself on a really bad blind date? Now imagine that date lasting the rest of your life?" The woman stares at her date/husband as he gets up from the table and says, "I have to go. Happy anniversary, honey." The logo comes up on the screen for AshleyMadison.com. "Isn't it time for AshleyMadison.com?" the narrator asks, and the screen displays the slogan: When Divorce Isn't An Option. Cut back to the woman, who is now eying another young man at the restaurant, and smiling seductively at him.
Originally schedule to air during the Super Bowl, the NFL and NBC both rejected this ad for predictable reasons. However, it was still aired in certain markets by the local affiliates, and Houston was one of those. When it was rejected nationally, AshleyMadison.com decided to focus marketing efforts in those areas where they had seen the best growth, and it turns out that the top three cities were all in Texas: Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas. This set of facts tells us two interesting things:
As a result of the poor economy, we've started to see prime time ad space opening up to commercials that would normally only air during daytime television. With AshleyMadison.com and Cash4Gold.com, some of that was even able to leak into the premiere advertising event in the world.
Texas is, apparently, the biggest market for an infidelity website. A theory: the high level of church participation in the South hits the moral depravity of the big cities, causing a sort of infidelity storm front. People want to appear to be committed to their families (so no divorcing) but are also lured to the dark side by the anything goes big-city atmosphere. As a result, its raining affairs!
Now, about the ad itself. A very fine line needed to be walked here: in order for the ad to be successful, the prospective client needed to be able to sympathize with the woman's situation. If the man was actually abusive, then the viewer would be turned off (just leave him!) If he wasn't a big enough jerk, the viewer would sympathize with him (he's not such a bad guy!) But to really sell it, they needed some extra justification.
He leaves at the end. Where is he going? Perhaps... to have an affair? And did you see the restaurant they were at, and how nicely everyone was dressed? Clearly the guy has some money.
So we've constructed a scenario where a great many women would be able to sympathize: the man is a jerk, and he's probably cheating on her... but he's got money, so instead of divorcing him, just sit on the busboy's face. The ad bangs this home at the end: When Divorce Isn't An Option.
Whatever you think of the morality of the company, give the ad props for knowing who their target audience is.
