Womens groups and general consumers alike are outraged at AMP’s latest social media move, releasing an iPhone application that assists males to pick up women. Named, ‘Amp up before you score’, the application classifies women into one of 24 categories and then based on this classification provides one-liners for men to seduce their targets. For PepsiCo, the parent company of AMP energy drinks, this move continues a long running association with male targeted advertising, encompassing extreme sport, mate ship and womanising. This short sighted move however, could be a key turning point for PepsiCo leadership position, with blogging sites rife with previously satisfied customers vowing to now boycott the brand indefinitely. Of course PepsiCo is not the only company to push the gender boundaries, with many brands using the boys club as a way to reach a specific audience. So, were they wrong? Like most, I believe so.
Sex sells - most of the time.
Looking at other iconic brands that have walked this fine line, Lynx have an established position of offering products that make men ‘irresistible’ to women. In promoting the Temptation deodorant several months ago, a branded video game called the chocolate man was created allowing users to run away from stampeding women. This game is supported with a Lynx effect page showcasing women who look as though they have come straight from a photo shoot for Ralph magazine. Accordingly, this could be seen as sexist but, if the facebook fan page is anything to go by, women fans almost outnumber the men. Obviously the big difference between these campaigns and PepsiCo’s is the portrayal of women. By Lynx they are a group of people attracted to their product; by PepsiCo they are a stereotype that should be manipulated.
A number of other brands have pulled off risqué campaigns as bad, if not worse than AMP’s latest concoction. Jim Beam and Bundaberg rum instantly spring to mind here and the jury is still out on Jamieson’s raspberry ale (is anyone seeing a pattern here?), with their indiscrete web campaign of ‘Ho White’. The difference in Pepsi’s case comes down to the nature of the product and its audience. Do they honestly think that energy drink is dominated by males? Or that their customers are regularly out on the prowl? Even if AMP thought that their customers were all charged up, testosterone fueled males instead of the more mainstream Pepsi consumers, it was shortsighted to assume that any backlash would not be traced to its parent company. Then again, this is the same company that released Samba flavor in Australia back in 2006. Taste test anyone?
Was this application another attempt to benefit from the public backlash and the associated free publicity from the media? This is a strategy that’s becoming all too common. Although showing the signs of this, it probably was not PepsiCo’s intention. The application, although offensive to some, seems faintly restrained and indicates that they believed they were onto a good thing. With an ongoing push for gender equality, AMP probably would have been OK if they had released a version of the app (in conjunction to the existing one) that focused on scoring men. By doing this, the focus could have moved away from denigration and towards light hearted entertainment.
In receiving the criticism, PepsiCo has admitted fault via their Twitter page, although they are yet to feel bad enough to remove the application from the iStore. With this in mind, it might come as no surprise to the public when they see PepsiCo sleeping permanently on the couch in the future.