Halloween marks the dark prelude to the top of year marketing bonanza which is Christmas, and this year stood out in infamy with a chain of high-profile gaffes from brands a lot of people would have thought would just know better.
Last month supermarket chains Asda and Tesco were forced to drag their respective “Mental Patient” and “Psycho Ward” outfits after coming under fire from the mental health lobby, which claimed the outfits further stigmatised people stricken by mental illnesses.
The obligatory public apologies were duly made and Asda even tried to further distance itself from the PR gaffe by promoting its range of Halloween-themed, in-store Augmented Reality treasure hunts. But similar to any horror story, audiences remember the bad, and infrequently the best.
Similarly, online retail giant Amazon removed pages promoting a ‘Zombie-fied’ outfit of disgraced UK DJ Jimmy Saville, following an identical public outcry.
However, on a more “refreshing” note, Carling marked Halloween with an internet video campaign created by the somewhat fittingly named, creative agency Creature (see below video).
Elsewhere, Marketing Week hands plaudits to online travel firm Booking.com, for its Haunted Destinations finder – a web-based portal that taps into the seasonal mood by encouraging ‘scare seekers’ to book stays in accommodation synonymous with things that go bump within the night (see bottom video).