Monday, December 15, 2008

Move the kids away from the computer screen...

If you have children in viewing distance of the computer screen, you might want to move them away before continuing.

In my Sunday newspaper ad slicks was a coupon for Franks' Red Hot, a hot sauce that's very popular in the South. It came with a fifty-cent coupon and a recipe for Buffalo Chicken Dip. Now, normally my children help me clip coupons, but this week I did it myself and I'm so glad!

I have scanned a copy of the ad for you to see below. I am writing a letter to the company to voice my displeasure. If you're a "letter writer" I hope you'll join me in protest. Here's the letter I wrote:

Dear Sirs,

I must voice a complaint about your new ad campaign. I am familiar with your ad as it is represented on the Frank's Red Hot website: "I put that [red splatter] on everything." It is cute and leaves it up to the consumer's imagination what, if anything, is concealed by the splatter.

But I was unpleasantly surprised by the new form of the ad appearing in an ad slick included with The Tennessean on Sunday, December 14. Instead of just a red splatter, the ad depicts a red splatter covering several letters, with "s" at the beginning and "t" at the end clearly visible. This leaves little to the imagination, spelling it out pretty clearly. The implied word is a vulgar obscenity, not at all appropriate for a Sunday newspaper or an ad slick that could be seen by children.

I do hope you will reconsider your ad's design. Our families are already exposed to enough vulgar language in our society, and it has no place in a food advertisement.

Thank you for your time.


Okay, you've had time to move the kids, here's the ad:

The company's contact information is:

Reckitt Benckiser, Inc.
399 Interpace Parkway
PO Box 225
Parsippany, NJ 07054-0225

Let's nip this new trend in the bud, shall we?

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