New Tappening advertising campaign challenges the notion of Truth in Advertising while embracing an opposing concept. Lying.
Tappening co-founders ask, “Why is it some bottled water brands still don’t list their source?” and encourage their rapidly-growing customer base to “start a lie” themselves…
New York (July 27, 2009) — Twenty-five-year marketing veterans and co-founders of the Tappening campaign (www.tappening.com) question the idea that “truth in advertising” actually exists. Certainly not for everyone, they say. For example, ads for bottles filled with tap water that are labeled and marketed with water cascading over pristine mountaintops. So, the prolific duo has decided to take the opposite approach in their fourth national advertising campaign in under two years. While continually bringing attention to the ongoing debate they have engaged in with the bottled water industry, they’ve now decided to even the playing field — and lie. (But they want to tell everyone first…of course.)
“Puffery is one thing, but some advertising is simply lies. I’ve observed that there are two types who perpetrate this: Those who admit it and those who don’t,” notes Tappening co-founder, Mark DiMassimo, whose agency created the new ad campaign. Tappening partner, Eric Yaverbaum, adds, “We’re not just admitting it up front, we’re bragging about it. We want people to know we’re blatantly lying in our new campaign…and, most importantly, that everyone should pay close attention to what’s factual in marketing and what’s – not so much.”
The campaign will include a website where anyone can go to “start their own lie” at www.startalie.com, and can view or download a series of four ads to pass to their friends–which are all lies. This ad series includes:
1. Bottled Water Makes Acid Rain Fall on Playgrounds
2. Bottled Water is the Primary Cause of Restless Leg Syndrome
3. Bottled Water Causes Blindness in Puppies
4. Bottled Water: 98% Melted Ice Caps. 2% Polar Bear Tears
