A recently received promo about a recampaigning product, Hot Flash: The Menopause Game, caused some big waves around our office yesterday. Unfortunately I don't think this was the kind of buzz the game was hoping for. Check out our responses:
- "Wow. Just when I thought I'd seen the worst product releases possible, something like this comes to my inbox…I'm envisioning Chutes & Ladders… Not to drag out this game's undeserved 15 minutes of office-email fame, but look at this site. At the bottom are the game pieces that players can choose from. You will not believe what they are [...birth control, diaphragms, and tampons to name a few].
- "The first thing that came to my mind was that they probably have a property called 'Out-of-Order Ovaries St.'"
- "I think I'm offended. Someone really dropped the ball on this idea."
- "My God, and I thought Monopoly was offensive….This is getting me so angry."
- "Offended doesn't even begin to describe my reaction. I obviously don't know who created this, but I wouldn't put it past being from another annoying female Baby Boomer trying to cash in on her generation's reluctance to grow old gracefully."
- "This sounds more like a twist on Candy Land. I think the blog post will be: When Good Marketing Tactics Go Wrong."
When good marketing tactics go wrong – precisely. I have not seen a campaign more ignorant of its potential consumers. From the game’s pawns that purpotedly "represent" womanhood to its off-color spaces (such as Forgetful Forest and Lustless Lane), Hot Flash entirely misses the notion of a woman’s views concerning the issue--to the point where this game becomes a distasteful joke. I can honestly say I'm surprised that someone would even try and breathe some new life into this product. Just from the reactions in our office, I can only imagine what the rest of the consumer market will say, but I know it won't be positive.
Rather than being successfully witty as I hope the makers originally intended, this product topped charts in causing offense and border-line outrage here. I think it’s safe to say that new, controversial products walk a fine line to create buzz marketing. And this game crossed way over.
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I was wondering how men would react to this game concept so I first went to the site and then had some others and we were all appalled that this would have any positive response at all. Completely bad and tacky.
Posted by: Ron Hayes | October 24, 2006 at 05:21 PM