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For those of you who remember being awestruck while watching the classic children’s movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, get ready for this: lickable wallpaper has entered into the modern marketplace! Earlier this month, Welch’s took out a full-page print ad in People magazine to promote their brand of grape juice. But there was a new twist: the ads provided lickable samples, using technology developed by a company called First Flavor. The ad was met with mixed reactions, most of which pertaining to what this Wall Street Journal article has dubbed “The Ick Factor.” The internet buzz generated by this new concept suggests that some may have been turned off to the product based on their initial interpretation of having to actually lick a magazine (and who knows where it has been?). However, the truth is that these lickable ads use the same technology as the dissolvable breath freshening strips that have been on the market for a while now. Even still, there are those who are not entirely convinced that this will be a sanitary form of marketing. After all, what’s to stop someone from tampering with a pile of magazines?

While this is not the first instance of this type of advertisement being used (The Wall Street Journal sites a similar ad campaign being used by CBS to promote one of its sitcoms), the Welch’s ad has received a lot of attention. Radio host Shari Elliker and her crew at WBAL AM 1090 even did a test run of the ad for a segment on her morning show. This attention has lead some ad experts to believe that such multi-sensory advertisements will draw a new pool of customers and strengthen the connection with existing ones. All publicity is good publicity, right? However, these experts also warn that there may be no middle ground with this type of advertising. Lickable ads will either be massively popular or a complete flop based on the response to their flavor.

Still, there are many consumers who can’t get past the perceived “ick factor,” and there are many more who believe that even if they could, there are too many opportunities for tampering and endangering public health. One blogger reviewing the Welch’s grape juice ad wonders if this whole concept is “a lawsuit waiting to happen.” Additional feedback indicates that some consumers feel the big bucks the company is spending on these ads (which, in fact, costs hundreds of thousands more than a normal print ad) would be better spent on other marketing ideas (i.e. - free samples of actual grape juice, discount coupons, etc.). And while there were a few blog reviews that were positively endorsing this ad, the overwhelming majority of them listed reason after reason for why this was such a bad idea.

Behind us are the days of the simple scratch-and-sniff ad, but whether or not this new marketing scheme will be effective has yet to be seen. There certainly seem to be many concerns in the consumer pool that will need to be addressed. One thing’s for sure: this ad got people taking about Welch’s, so it’s clear that their marketing team must be doing something right!

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

By Michael Gorvin