When Digital Automatic Advertising Fails

badadThis is what happens when you leave to a machine the handling of a sensitive task.

The advertising engine used by Repubblica.it coupled fashion photos with a dramatic picture of a Syrian kid scared by a camera that she thought was a weapon.

While whenever you click the link to the picture the ads change (more fashion brands, mobile companies and so on), the final effect remains rather disturbing because of the feeling of misery exploitation transmitted by the whole image. So, putting aside ethical consideration, the outcome is that Fay.com got its brand associated to the wrong message.

The lesson to learn (or to remember) is that to deliver an effective advertising campaign, automatics doesn’t work.