The 'genius' of marketing

Well done Asus for a spectacular own goal!

There are some key rules about a marketing campaign that I thought most people who claim to be marketing experts would follow.

Number one, try not to irritate (and I'm being polite) half the population with sweeping generalisations.

Number two, don't objectify women as a means of selling a product.

Number three, don't make insinuations about people who own cats.

OK, so rule number three is pushing it a bit, but as a proud cat owner, a woman and someone who works in the IT industry and owns a laptop (gasp), Asus' marketing department has certainly ensured that I will not touch their products with a bargepole.

In a hastily deleted tweet - which luckily we have managed to preserve for your viewing pleasure (see below) - it asked 'Who would you rather date - cute girl with the cat, or the ‘sophisticated' lady with the *insert Asus product here which I refuse to name*'

So are you insinuating, Asus, in your wisdom, that people who own cats are not ‘sophisticated'? Or is it impossible to be both a cat lover and a user of technology?

Clearly in the world of Asus marketing, it is not possible to be both. Oh, and I'm not sure if they realised but it is the SAME PERSON in both pictures. Like DUR.

At least have different people posing in these pathetic pictures to give some sort of choice.

This makes the campaign we ran recently about women in the channel even more timely. It is obvious that there are many people out there with a marketing mentality that belongs in the 1970s.

Shame they can't stay there.

The reactions to the tweet have been quite amusing and I think Asus might be enjoying its own goal for a while to come.

Time for a new marketing strategy perhaps?