Tuesday, July 1, 2008

MC Saatchi And Bulgaria - A Love Story

Well, we've all seen the Cannes Lions silver winner, and around here in Bulgaria, there was quite a commotion about the "why you should never buy a shirt tailored by a Bulgarian."print part of the campaign. There was something mildly insulting about the reference to our bulgy fingers and fine brick-laying skills. But even more insulting was the fact that we were chosen to represent the middle of nowhere - a fictional place of peasants and stupidity, that has remained in the 19th century.
After all the noise generated in the Bulgarian public space, and heavy words like: "Why doesn't the country react?", "Where are the Bulgarian institutions at this time of crisis?", etc. I sent a letter to the creative director of MC Saatchi, telling him that I felt offended. As I read his response, I really felt that people in my country are really prone to the "storm in a teacup"-syndrome:
"Dear Nikola,

Further to your e-mail received regarding the Herringbone advertisement you saw on the Cannes Lions winners, we would like to express our sincere apologies for any offence we may have caused you, however unintentional on our part.

This satirical advertisement is one in a series which tells an imaginary and fantastical story of a fictional tailor and is written in a light-hearted, humorous way and not intended to cause offence.

The advertisement was clearly satirical and we believe the reasonable reader would not take the intended humorous advertisement seriously.

Yours sincerely,
Ben Welsh



Ben Welsh
Executive Creative Director

M&CSAATCHI
12/131 Macquarie Street, Sydney, NSW 2000"

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know, the thing is, I don't think the ad is funny at all. I actually find it kind of creepy. Weird too.
I can see people getting offended by it.

evg2 said...

Ben Welsh
Your response is like a mermaid, you get a woman as you like fish, as fish get a woman want!

Anonymous said...

I'm a Bulgarian and a Melbourne copywriter. I love the ad. No i don't have fat fingers. But not every Australian eats pies and has a pet kangaroo. Move on people, you and the world you live in is getting to precious.