Creativity Vs. Offence: Ogilvy & Mather’s Sleepless Nights Over Kurl-on

In May 2014, Ogilvy & Mather India (O&M), one of the leading advertising agencies in India, found itself in the eye of a storm over an advertisement it created for its client, popular mattress brand Kurl-on, to highlight the product proposition of bouncy mattresses. The ad, one in a series of three print ads titled ‘Bounce Back’, featured a series of cartoon images of Malala Yousafzai (Malala), a Pakistani student activist, being shot in the head, falling backward covered in blood, being put on a drip, and then bouncing off a Kurl-on mattress and recovering to accept the Nobel Peace Prize . The ad sparked global media outrage and was widely criticized in the social media for being offensive and for using a horrific tragedy to sell a product. According to Jeff Beer, a senior writer with Co.Create , “Marketers are known for using a fair bit of hyperbole. New and improved. The greatest, the fastest, the tastiest, the prettiest, and on and on. But there are levels of exaggeration that even advertising shouldn’t stoop to. Here’s the thing, unless you’re selling a product or service that helps the causes Ms. Yousafzai supports and campaigns around, you shouldn’t be using her as part of your pitch. In fact, unless she actively endorses whatever you’re advertising, you should probably steer clear. But to invoke her ordeal and subsequent work with something as pedestrian as a mattress not only lacks creativity but also any semblance of taste.