Haggar Gets in the Conversation

A friend emailed me a copy of Bob Garfield's Advertising Age column entitled, "Haggar, Crispin flush decency down the toilet." Here's a quote:

What in God's name is wrong with you people? Can you possibly imagine that gross-out vigilante justice is the way to advertise cheap pants, or anything else? Has this red-hot agency so bought into the myth of its own infallibility that it can abuse the audience, and the brand, with impunity?

Once again, no answer required. Nor is there any need to rationalize the behavior with the campaign's psychology. Don't worry. We get the psychology.

Haggar sells to the Middle American, the unpretentious, meat-and-potatoes, un-froufrou guy with a large-screen TV in his living room and no books that don't have embossed foil covers. He works very hard managing the Wal-Mart and has no patience for rich guys or slackers. At night, he sits in his La-Z-Boy watching Lou Dobbs and Spike. In 1994, he went to the polls and voted in the Republican majority. Didn't help. That was 12 years ago, and he's still pissed. Dragging his ass to work at 6:30 a.m. to do the heavy lifting so a bunch of trust-fund brats and illegal aliens can get a free ride.

But he does face the public every day, and he needs a comfortable slack with a sharp crease and plenty of room at the waist.

So why not press all his hot buttons while simultaneously displaying the features of affordable trousers to go handsomely with his collection of white-on-white half-sleeve shirts?

That's the strategy, and if sound strategy were the only criterion, this campaign would be top-drawer. But that's not the only criterion. Note that, for terrorists, say, blowing up a restaurant is a sound strategy. Cold comfort to the victims.

By the way, if the comparison to terrorism is maybe extreme, it is also not accidental. This kind of stunt is itself a form of soft-core terrorism. In the name of stoking the anger of a few, it celebrates lawlessness and violence, portrays perceived enemies as contemptible caricatures who deserve what they get and, ultimately, claims millions of innocent victims.

Wow! Bob has a strong opinion. As a middle-aged guy myself, I enjoyed the ads. Before seeing them I had no idea who Haggar was, as a brand. The brand had absolutely no point of view. And, wasn't even interesting enough to be apart of the cultural conversation. Good or bad, it's now a part of the conversation. Now that they are in the conversation, Haggar can start to get somewhere.

Posted at 01:40 PM in Branding | Permalink

Tags: advertising, branding, Crispin Porter Bogusky, Haggar

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John Winsor

Views from the CEO of Victors & Spoils and the author of Baked In, Spark and Beyond the Brand about the future of marketing and product design.

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December 12, 2006

Haggar Gets in the Conversation

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