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Business
商業
Insulting advertisements
侮辱性廣告
Ad hominem
人身攻擊
When rudeness sells
以冒犯為賣點
THE Israeli government recently raised an interesting question for advertisers: whom can you safely insult?
最近，以色列政府提出了一個對廣告商來說很有意思的問題：什么人你可以冒犯而沒有風險？
"American Jews" is the wrong answer.
美國的猶太人，這是一個錯誤的答案。
An ad campaign urging Jews to return to Israel showed a boy calling his father "daddy" instead of "abba".
在一段力促猶太人回到以色列去的廣告片中，一個猶太男孩稱自己父親為"daddy"而不是"abba"，
Diaspora Jews were outraged at the implication that they are not properly Jewish.
這意味著他們已非純正的猶太人，這個廣告片讓飄落異國的猶太人義憤填膺。
Companies don't usually make such elementary errors.
公司不會經常犯這種低級錯誤。
The list of people or groups an advertiser can be rude about is very short, reckons Bob Jeffrey, the boss of JWT, a big ad agency.
大型廣告公司JWT的老板鮑勃?杰夫利認為，廣告商并沒有多少可以任意踐踏的個人或團體，
He recalls adverts from the 1960s such as "You don't have to be Jewish to love Levy's", which depicted people of various ethnicities munching on a Brooklyn baker's rye bread sandwich.
他回憶起1960年代的這么一個廣告：來自不同種族的人們大嚼特嚼布洛克林面包師的黑麥三明治，所配的廣告詞是"就算不是猶太人，也會喜歡吃Levy"。
Such slogans would not be kosher today.
現在看來，這樣的口號放在今天就不太合適。
But "if you say you're not going to annoy anyone, you might as well give up," adds Mr Jeffrey.
但正如杰夫瑞先生所說"要想誰都不冒犯，除非什么都別做"。
Insulting dictators ought to be safe,
冒犯一下獨裁者應該是安全的，
so long as you do not operate in the same country.
只要你不在獨裁者所在的國家。
Nando's, a South African restaurant chain, forgot that with an ad showing a Robert Mugabe lookalike glumly alone at dinner (after many of his fellow despots had been deposed).
南非有家旅館連鎖Nando's就疏忽了這一點，他們有一個廣告片，片中一個酷似羅伯特? 穆加貝的人（因獨裁同伙被推翻）在吃飯時獨自悶悶不樂，
He reminisces about happy days shooting water pistols with Muammar Qaddafi, playing in the sand with Saddam Hussein and riding a tank, "Titanic"-style, with Idi Amin.
他開始追憶那些逝去的愉快時光：與卡扎菲一起玩水槍射擊，與薩達姆在沙漠中嬉戲，與伊迪?阿明一起駕駛坦克兜風。
The ad was broadcast in South Africa, where Nando's middle-class target audience found it hilarious.
這個廣告片在南非播放時，Nando's中產的目標觀眾認為它很滑稽可笑。
But Nando's also has restaurants in Zimbabwe. Threats ensued. Fearing violence against its staff there, the ad was pulled.
Nando's在津巴布韋也有分店，這段廣告引來的威脅接二連三，因為擔心那里的員工遭受暴力襲擊，他們把這個廣告撤了下來。
Outside America, companies can probably get away with insulting George Bush junior.
在美國以外的其他地方，公司也許可以不計后果地冒犯一把小布什。
In Malaysia, his face has been used to sell cars, contrasting the "not smart" president with Smart cars.
在馬來西亞，小布什的肖像出現在汽車廣告中，將"不太斯馬特（聰明)"的總統與斯馬特小車放在一起比較以增銷量。
However, a Toyota ad featuring Brad Pitt was banned there for being an "insult to Asians" by promoting a Western ideal of male beauty. Indeed, the existence of Mr Pitt is irritating to men everywhere.
然而，布拉德?皮特代言的豐田廣告在這里卻被禁止，因為這被認為是在推行西方的美男標準，"是對亞洲人的侮辱"，的確，皮特先生讓各地男子不快。
In Britain, the government takes a dim view of television ads that mock living people.
在英國，政府對于嘲弄真人電視廣告的態度不太明朗。
In 2002 an ad was banned for depicting David Beckham, a footballer not known for his academic accomplishments, asking his wife how to spell "DVD".
2002年，一電視廣告被禁，內容是學習成績平平的足球球員貝克漢姆，問他太太怎樣拼寫"DVD"。
The advertiser's protest—that it was for a satirical TV show with much ruder lines—did not succeed.
廣告商抗議取締本廣告的行為，因為它贊助的一檔諷刺電視節目中有更粗魯的臺詞。但抗議沒有奏效。
It is often profitable to stir controversy. An ad that upsets people and thereby generates headlines is an excellent source of free publicity.
能引起爭議的話題往往商機無限，一個看了讓人心煩的廣告，如能上報紙頭條不啻是最好的免費宣傳。
But if it alienates potential customers, it has gone too far.
但如果讓你的潛在客戶敬而遠之，那就有些過份了。
Benetton, a fashion brand, reels in young shoppers by annoying their parents, for example with a recent ad showing the pope kissing Ahmed al-Tayeb, an Egyptian imam.
時尚品牌Benetton，吸引了不少年輕的消費者，但卻讓父母們很煩心，比如他們最近有個電視廣告，竟讓教皇去吻埃及伊瑪目艾哈邁德?al-Tayeb。
An edgy image helps sell clothes, but it works less well with cars,
用一個比較前衛的形象推銷衣服可能比較合適，但推銷汽車的效果就不一定好，
as Toyota found with an ad in Australia that mocked both Range Rover and the British queen: "Don't worry, Your Majesty. You're not the only British export that's had its day." Monarchists howled. Toyota apologised.
豐田在澳大利亞的經歷就能說明這一點，他們在那里投放了一個廣告，廣告中取笑的是路虎攬勝和英國女王："女王陛下，不要擔心，不是只有你才是曾經風光無限的英國貨。"保皇派震怒，豐田只得道歉了事。
