Red & Yellow launches 'Ag Shame' ;) Ads of the Year campaign

Because, despite the advertising and marketing industry being packed to the brim of big personalities who hold our creative community to a high standard, every year there are inevitably a handful of ads which miss the mark.

Red & Yellow Creative School of Business is now turning the lens inwards to take a look at some of the not so stellar advertising that has come out over the course of 2020. These are the ads that have seemingly arbitrary hashtags; the ones that we skip over or block; and the ones that feature influencer partnerships that make no sense.

Introducing the ‘Ag Shame ;)’ Ads of the Year, a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek campaign that reminds us to remember to laugh at ourselves every once in a while, and not take things too seriously.

“This campaign is not about pointing fingers, but rather about learning and embracing our mistakes, and moving onwards and upwards. There cannot be a single creative or client alive that has not messed up at some point, but who has then learned from the experience and become stronger,” said Taryn van Heerden, head of marketing at Red & Yellow.

“As an education provider, it is important for us to embrace this as a learning experience. That’s why the campaign is not about the ads, it’s about the stories behind them,” she continues.

And the category is...

The nomination categories have been carefully selected by industry professionals, people who are all too familiar with these common mistakes, having done many of them themselves.

• The “Perfect ad for a bathroom break” category
  
• The “Most skippable YouTube ad” category
  
• The “What’s that billboard for again?” category
  
• The “Best use of a random hashtag” category
  
• The “Most obvious use of a paid influencer” category
  
• The “Make people dance for no reason” category

“The one thing I learnt very early on in my career in advertising was to become accustomed to criticism, because bad ads happen to the best of us. This campaign is as brave and fun as the industry itself should be. It’s time for people to share their thoughts on who nailed it in 2020... or in this case, who didn’t. If the youth think they can do it better, they now know where to go to start their careers in advertising. Red & Yellow needs fresh talent, and so does the industry that we all love so dearly,” said Ahmed Tilly, creative consultant and judge of multiple industry awards including the Loeries, Cannes and New York Festival.

The goal of this project is to inspire a new generation of thinkers, planners and business leaders to follow a career path within the creative industry.

The ‘Ag Shame’ ;) Ads of the Year campaign runs from 20 January to 20 February 2021. Everyone is encouraged to visit discover.redandyellow.co.za and add their thoughts on which ads made them think “Ag Shame ;)”.