#Orchids&Onions: Nedbank and Joe Public show the dark side of the high life
Soap opera
So much so, in fact, that I got angry because I thought I was seeing yet another “aspirational” ad punting the sort of lifestyle only available to the mega-rich, or the tender-connected.
I looked at the trappings of success, which were reflected in excess – as you see often on social media. The expensive booze, the massive mansions, the cars. It oozed the message that the man at its centre had succeeded and that he had the right to celebrate that success.
Quickly, though, the seamier side of money – and its mismanagement – began to rear its head. Already, though, I was sucked into the soap opera evolving on the screen.
Booze, clubbing, hints of affairs, then a gambling problem – followed by the gradual loss of everything until all he is left with is his own reflection, in a seedy hotel room.
Then, the ad asks, using Nedbank’s by now household word phrasing: How do you see money? Followed by its injunction that you will “See money differently” with Nedbank.
Brought to you – if you’re not too emotionally invested by now to notice – Nedbank’s debt counselling service.
It’s a slick and powerful way of dealing with one of the less glamorous aspects of banking. It’s also, in a way, a piece of corporate social investment because it’s a reminder to high flyers and wannabe high flyers that it can all be gone in a puff of smoke and the blink of an eye.
Well done to Nedbank and its agency, Joe Public. Memorable work will always get an Orchid from me.
Tobacco moment
Even as Mark Zuckberg – Meta’s main man – was readying himself and his empire to go into a court battle in what analysts have been calling “social media’s tobacco moment”, I stumbled upon a bizarre post and even more bizarre set of comments on X from one of the slickest misleading marketing operations on the planet.
The “tobacco moment” refers to the US government’s long and involved lawsuit against four major tobacco companies, following decades of research which showed that tobacco use caused health problems such as cancer. Other research showed how the industry had tried to cover up or downplay the effects of its products.
(Here’s the reality, for those who would like to “Whatabout” on other drugs like alcohol: Tobacco is the only substance which, taken as directed, will kill you.)
The industry is now pushing the world towards “smokeless” – although this is nothing like the reality of the purpose of the campaigning.
One of the organisations set up by Big Tobacco (in this case, British American Tobacco, BAT) is "A Smokeless World" (and its associated digital platform and content series like Omni and The Smokeless Word).
It seemingly promotes moving away from tobacco by encouraging adult smokers to switch to non-combustible alternatives like vapes, heated tobacco, and oral pouches.
The problem with that is that the world will be anything but smokeless, because the idea is to reduce tobacco consumption rather than eliminate it and push people to substitutes which could be equally as dangerous. There is also a fear among anti-tobacco advocates that pushing vaping to younger consumers means growing a market for all tobacco-related products.
Interestingly, the podcast by Omni that I picked up confirmed how effective the campaign is, with the vast majority of comments (how many were from paid bots, I don’t know) ranting about infringement on rights.
Few of these people realised that the organisation they were slagging off thinks the same as they do.
Marketing which works normally gets an Orchid from me, but in this case, deceptive and dangerous advertising gets an Onion. So, stick that into your vapes, Smokeless World, Omni and BAT.
