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Ads Gone Bad: Cablevision's Triple Play doesn't play

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This post is part of our Ads Gone Bad series. Share your thoughts and memories of this ad in the comments, and be sure to check out our other posts on marketing gone wrong.

Blending cultures is a particular challenge for advertisers. How do they appeal to one culture without offending others, who may misunderstand references and not recognize noted figures featured in ads? These are questions that Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) is probably asking.

To market its "Triple Play" offering (bundled cable, broadband, and telephone), the company hired globalWorks to create ads featuring the music and stars of reggaeton. Reggaeton, urban music that became popular with Latin American young people in the 1990s, is a fusion of Caribbean reggae and Latin forms such as salsa with rap and hip-hop.

Featured in the ads is a singer resembling the famous reggaeton star and Latin Grammy winner Daddy Yankee (Ramon Ayala), rapping and cavorting with three nubile young women/mermaids. The ads are rather camped up, but no more so than most music videos.

Nonetheless, some viewers found the rapper-style ostentation demeaning to Spanish-speaking Americans. Others took offense at the "Triple Play" tag, in some circles a very coarse term describing the menu of sexual possibilities.

I suspect, though, that many of those who criticized the ad were simply upset that the U.S. continues to evolve to integrate other cultures. For many, change is bad. And reggaeton is not their father's rock and roll.

See other examples of Ads Gone Bad.

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Last updated: November 25, 2009: 07:06 AM

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