Although in many situations, the two coincide, there’s a significant difference between risqué and risky. Simply put, being risqué is often too much of a risk in email marketing, as Tesco discovered recently. Mind you, a bit of thought might have made them think again.
They used the words ‘shiitake’, ‘pistachio’, and ‘fettucine’ in newspaper and Twitter ads, and on two outdoor posters in large bold text. There were probably other aspects which made it worse, but I’ll leave you to dig into the episode and be bewildered. I mean; seriously? Did they think it would not generate a number of complaints, and, particularly given the CAP Code requirement that ads must not contain anything likely to cause serious or widespread offence, they would not be found against?
I’ll save you a bit of trouble. One of the adverts had ‘For F’, then three images, followed by the word ‘sake’. The images faded, revealing ‘fettuccine’s’ and text suggesting the average sum you would lose if you were not on Tesco’s fixed price tariff. Subtle it wasn’t.
The first learning point is that if you are going to take a risk with a risqué word or phrase in a marketing email or online, then prepare a plausible defence in case the ASA take a critical interest. It was patently obvious what word was being alluded to.
‘Shiitake’ and ‘pistachio’, while being perhaps a little less offensive, were still sufficiently so to merit the wrath of the ASA. Perhaps there might have been a different finding if it was only these two words. We’ll never know. That is, unless we have a rush of blood to the head. There were other factors that made Tesco’s situation less tenable.
There were no restrictions placed on where the posters could be displayed, and they were viewable by anyone, including children and, worse for Tesco, parents with children with them. Or at home I suppose. The newspaper adverts were thought to have been unlikely to be viewed by children and were not considered in breach of the regulations. No such allowance for the Twitter ad.
If you feel the urge to use such risqué terminology, and we’ll come onto exceptions later, ensure you split your email marketing list with care. Accept that you might well cause affront to some subscribers. The ASA might find for you. On the other hand, your affronted subscribers will probably click the unsubscribe button.
Humour is a very useful marketing tool. It disarms. It will make a subscriber more accepting. A risqué one might well be deliberately exclusive as we will be treating the reader as an equal and it’s a compliment to their sophistication. We need to access all the tools we have to encourage a subscriber to click on links and complete. But treat with caution.
We take risks in email marketing. However, we need to ensure we stay the right side of the regs. This episode is a self-inflicted injury. Further, it’s difficult to believe their target audience would appreciate the terminology.
Further information available here: https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/tesco-mobile-ltd-g22-1146813-tesco-mobile-ltd.html
