A blog about Marketing from a Girl's perspective

LOOK HOW DEW 'Do' THE POWER OF TEN

Recently I saw the "Power of Ten", an excellent design films by Charles and Ray Eames. You can watch the video here -   

The central tenet is this epic film is one of the most important principles in design—reframing the question. Unconsciously or consciously, we all practice the 'power of ten' to some degree whenever stuck with a problem. There are two ways to find a solution to a problem, zoom in and zoom out. First, take a step back and look at the problem from a broader context, and then take a step closer and look at it in more detail. Let's see how brand managers at Mountain Dew used the 'power of ten' to deal with their recent ad controversy.

Mountain Dew, the brand known for its young, edgy and crazy ads recently launched a 60 sec sequel to its widely popular digital series developed by African-American rapper Tyler, The Creator.

Zoom Out, 10¹: The ad features a goat character known as Felicia who orders Mountain Dew in a restaurant, does crazy stuff after drinking and behaves violently with a white waitress. Then, the battered white woman on crutches is being urged to identify a suspect out of a lineup of black men including the crazy goat. The goat further threatens the women. The woman eventually screams "I can't do this, no no no!" and runs away. The word "do" is in apparent reference to the soft drink's "Dew It" slogan. 

At the most basic level, this 60 sec video was intended to be fun and humorous specifically targeting male audiences for the brand by leveraging the fan following of the African American rapper. 

Zoom out, 10² : The moment it is shared over the internet it gets called "arguably the most racist commercial in history" by a single commentator,  a Syracuse University Professor, Dr. Boyce Watkins in a post in YourBlackWorld.net

Zoom out, 10³ : The commercial gets viral and as a result there is a news explosion and a complete catastrophe for the brand.

Zoom out, 10⁴ : The parent company, PepsiCo Inc. takes a step away from the problem and sees the issue from a broader perspective. The ad features racial stereotypes and could be potentially observed as racist by a segment of the audience. Sure, creative copy is done in a poor taste but was it meant to be racist, I don't think so!!

Zoom in, 10³ : Now Imagine the same ad in the pre-digital era. The ad would not have clicked with the masses and just died on its own course. But in the digital era, anyone can articulate their judgment and create a national problem from a 60 sec video. There is clearly a much bigger lesson for brand managers and social media managers here. Handing over complete control over brand messaging to celebrities is a high risk strategy.

Zoom in, 10² : PepsiCo takes a closer look at the problem, understood how the ad could be offensive and takes full responsibility for the video. Jen Ryan, a spokeswoman for PepsiCo said, "the company learned from its consumer relations team on Tuesday that people found the ad offensive. We apologize for this video and take full responsibility. We have removed it from all Mountain Dew channels and Tyler is removing it from his channels as well." The company also assured to put a stringent digital media strategy in place to avoid such crisis in future.

Zoom in, 10¹ : Management of Odd Future, the hip-hop collective led by Tyler, the Creator, issued a statement apologizing to anyone offended but said the ad was taken out of context. It noted the men in ad's lineup are Tyler's friends and Odd Future members. The artist "absolutely never intended to spark a controversy about race," the statement said. "It was simply an, again, admittedly absurd story that was never meant to be taken seriously." Further, the artist is supposedly going to meet Professor Boyce Watkins to personally apologize and take responsibility for the video.

10⁰ : The company adopted a perfect crisis management approach by getting a 360^◦ view of the problem. Acknowledge the mistake, apologize for the harm done and communicate the strategy reflecting company's commitment not to repeat such a mistake again in future. In order to find a true solution, it is important to address the root of the problem by first thinking from how others view the problem and then dig deep to address the root cause responsible for the problem.