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Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Pride cometh before the fall

The Consumerist relates a story about this billboard for a Chicago medical spa with a scantily clad woman on it. She's a little too "un-clad" and the community took up a petition to have it replaced. (Modesty Box added by Yours Truly.)

What gets me is the owner's arrogant, chauvinistic response (he's French), insisting the billboard appeals to his male clientèle:

"...This is a man's world. I don't want to sound cocky, but I'm so big in the business that if I lose a handful of clients, we'll get some new ones."

Since I work in advertising, I wish more clients would take risks. Generally speaking, if you aren't risking something you have very little to gain. However, flat-out saying, "I'm so good, I don't care if I lose customers," especially over advertising that is neither strategic nor conceptual, is a good way to do the latter: lose customers.

I really hope this guy goes down in flames.