Advertising is, most often, glorified exaggeration. In this world, facts, along with boobs and bottoms are embellished or enlarged with a view to make the target audience impressed or stare with his/her mouth agape.
But not always. This print campaign for New Zealand fire service, developed by M&C Saatchi, conveys the message directly, or a way of presentation that can be described as on the verge of rudeness, or, maybe, cruelty.
The first visuals show the image of a sleeping girl, and the cruelly-direct copy reads- Without a working smoke alarm consider her dead.
Another shows two partitioned images, in which one of a dead man, and the copy reads- When you’re asleep you’ll never notice the deadly poisonous smoke that silently suffocates you. Unless you have a working photoelectric smoke alarm.
The campaign directly presents the message, though there are some embellishments in the art-direction.
CREDITS
Advertising Agency: M&C Saatchi, Wellington, New Zealand
Executive Creative Director: Dave King
Art Director: James Bowman
Copywriters: Dave King, Steve McCabe, Nicci Doak
Photographer: Stephen Langdon
Retoucher: Denny Monk
Account Services: Christina Mossaidis, Nick Baylis