Attention Companies. There’s Now A Whole New Way To Market Your Product

Recently a plumber in Texas traded in a truck at a Ford dealership. The dealer promised to remove the decal on the truck’s door showing the company’s name and phone number. But he didn’t, probably because he got distracted asking a new customer “What will it take to get you into this truck?” The used truck got sold at auction in Dallas and was later shipped to Turkey.

And that’s when things went south. The truck showed up in a photo posted on Twitter. It had an anti-aircraft gun mounted to the bed and was being used by Syrian rebels fighting against the Assad regime. A huge ball of flame was seen shooting out of the gun’s barrel and the plumbing company’s name and phone number were clearly visible.

Fortunately, people back home realized it was all just a strange coincidence. Just kidding. The plumber got multiple hate-calls and deaths threats from Americans who realized that:

1) The plumber was just like any other businessman seeking to expand his market. One day he got a call about a toilet in Syria that was so badly plugged that an American plumber was needed. So he shipped an employee and a truck over to Syria to ‘git er done’. And that employee went over to the Dark Side.

2) Ford is now providing material support to terrorists.

The plumber is suing the dealer and I hope he prevails. But the more important issue here is the marketing potential revealed by this episode. Think about how a company like Coke advertises. It’s all cheery and upbeat in an attempt to get you to forget that Coke causes obesity and death. They’ll show some barbeque where people are laughing in a backyard while everyone clutches a can of Coke.

The only place that might happen is at a Coke company picnic intended to boost flagging morale. So advertisers desperately need a new approach. And here’s what Coke could do:

Find a picture of a group of jihadists holding guns in the air. Photoshop the picture so the jihadis are all holding cans of Pepsi. Then create a fake jihadi Twitter account and post the image with the message “It gets really hot in the desert, so we all like to cool down with a Pepsi. #JihadMeAtPepsi”

Ford could Photoshop the Chevrolet grill ornament onto trucks in Iraq and post them on Twitter with the message “ISIS fighters seen driving yet another Chevy. #LikeIraq”

And so on. I call this ‘Brand Counter-Marketing’. Yes, it sounds absurd. But fear is an advertiser’s best friend. And if the reaction to the plumbing truck incident is any indication, it’ll probably work.