Yo MAMA is Marketing?

The first time I saw the Kmart Ad “Yo Mama” Back-to-School Ad, I cried laughing.  I even went on YouTube to watch it over again and again and again.  How clever!  Then, out of nowhere it hit me; HOW OFFENSIVE!  The ad does not take a smart or realistic approach to ethnic characteristics but a very stereotypical one.  In addition to this ad, there is another advertisement titled “My School Bus is My Limo” which I think is fun and youthful.  What’s the difference?  I think the “Yo Mama” advertisement has a well selected, diverse group of stereotyped caricatures playing well defined roles in the commercial.  I even think there could be an insinuation that one of the kids is homosexual.  There is a big difference between cultural diversity and blatant stereotyping.  And, there is a difference between reaching a young target market and throwing offensive stereotypes into kid’s faces.  Both of the video were very successful online and they both went viral and they both commanded lots of buzz and controversy.  While some people were offended by the “gangsta” portrayals, I think that accusation is off base and overall the controversy did not hurt Kmart. It actually helped them online.  Kmart’s online sells are increasing by double digits but overall, the company is still losing customers and sells are continuing to decline which is the key measure of successful marketing.  Unless the company’s marketing objective was to increase online sells, my opinion may not be the reason the advertising did not work but the advertisements can be defined as “the bomb” in two different ways.

Kmart has figured out how to make great viral advertisements (which can be tricky) and increase their footprint digitally but these campaigns are not translating to store success.  The “Ship My Pants” advertisement produced 19 Million YouTube hits and 2 Million shares.  The company took a risk and they were able to translate test marketing online to broadcast television but the results are not showing up in company profits.