商业

　　Insulting advertisements

　　侮辱性广告

　　Ad hominem

　　人身攻击

　　When rudeness sells

　　以冒犯为卖点

　　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个对广告商来说很有意思的问题：什么人你可以冒犯而没有风险？

　　"American Jews" is the wrong answer.

　　美国的犹太人，这是一个错误的答案。

　　An ad campaign urging Jews to return to Israel showed a boy calling his father "daddy" instead of "abba".

　　在一段力促犹太人回到以色列去的广告片中，一个犹太男孩称自己父亲为"daddy"而不是"abba"，

　　Diaspora Jews were outraged at the implication that they are not properly Jewish.

　　这意味着他们已非纯正的犹太人，这个广告片让飘落异国的犹太人义愤填膺。

　　Companies don't usually make such elementary errors.

　　公司不会经常犯这种低级错误。

　　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.

　　大型广告公司JWT的老板鲍勃?杰夫利认为，广告商并没有多少可以任意践踏的个人或团体，

　　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.

　　他回忆起1960年代的这么一个广告：来自不同种族的人们大嚼特嚼布洛克林面包师的黑麦三明治，所配的广告词是"就算不是犹太人，也会喜欢吃Levy"。

　　Such slogans would not be kosher today.

　　现在看来，这样的口号放在今天就不太合适。

　　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说"要想谁都不冒犯，除非什么都别做"。

　　Insulting dictators ought to be safe,

　　冒犯一下独裁者应该是安全的，

　　so long as you do not operate in the same country.

　　只要你不在独裁者所在的国家。

　　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).

　　南非有家旅馆连锁Nando's就疏忽了这一点，他们有一个广告片，片中一个酷似罗伯特? 穆加贝的人（因独裁同伙被推翻）在吃饭时独自闷闷不乐，

　　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.

　　他开始追忆那些逝去的愉快时光：与卡扎菲一起玩水枪射击，与萨达姆在沙漠中嬉戏，与伊迪?阿明一起驾驶坦克兜风。

　　The ad was broadcast in South Africa, where Nando's middle-class target audience found it hilarious.

　　这个广告片在南非播放时，Nando's中产的目标观众认为它很滑稽可笑。

　　But Nando's also has restaurants in Zimbabwe. Threats ensued. Fearing violence against its staff there, the ad was pulled.

　　Nando's在津巴布韦也有分店，这段广告引来的威胁接二连三，因为担心那里的员工遭受暴力袭击，他们把这个广告撤了下来。

　　Outside America, companies can probably get away with insulting George Bush junior.

　　在美国以外的其他地方，公司也许可以不计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.

　　在马来西亚，小布什的肖像出现在汽车广告中，将"不太斯马特（聪明)"的总统与斯马特小车放在一起比较以增销量。

　　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?皮特代言的丰田广告在这里却被禁止，因为这被认为是在推行西方的美男标准，"是对亚洲人的侮辱"，的确，皮特先生让各地男子不快。

　　In Britain, the government takes a dim view of television ads that mock living people.

　　在英国，政府对于嘲弄真人电视广告的态度不太明朗。

　　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，一电视广告被禁，内容是学习成绩平平的足球球员贝克汉姆，问他太太怎样拼写"DVD"。

　　The advertiser's protest—that it was for a satirical TV show with much ruder lines—did not succeed.

　　广告商抗议取缔本广告的行为，因为它赞助的一档讽刺电视节目中有更粗鲁的台词。但抗议没有奏效。

　　It is often profitable to stir controversy. An ad that upsets people and thereby generates headlines is an excellent source of free publicity.

　　能引起争议的话题往往商机无限，一个看了让人心烦的广告，如能上报纸头条不啻是最好的免费宣传。

　　But if it alienates potential customers, it has gone too far.

　　但如果让你的潜在客户敬而远之，那就有些过份了。

　　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.

　　时尚品牌Benetton，吸引了不少年轻的消费者，但却让父母们很烦心，比如他们最近有个电视广告，竟让教皇去吻埃及伊玛目艾哈迈德?al-Tayeb。

　　An edgy image helps sell clothes, but it works less well with cars,

　　用一个比较前卫的形象推销衣服可能比较合适，但推销汽车的效果就不一定好，

　　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.

　　丰田在澳大利亚的经历就能说明这一点，他们在那里投放了一个广告，广告中取笑的是路虎揽胜和英国女王："女王陛下，不要担心，不是只有你才是曾经风光无限的英国货。"保皇派震怒，丰田只得道歉了事。