Smashing success awaits

12 December 2014 - 02:14 By TJ Strydom
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UP YOURS, SANTA: Superbalist.com launched its #TheEndofUgly campaign, encouraging people to destroy unwanted gifts
UP YOURS, SANTA: Superbalist.com launched its #TheEndofUgly campaign, encouraging people to destroy unwanted gifts
Image: YOUTUBE

It is the time for giving. And for receiving unwanted gifts.

What do you do with that gold-plated ashtray or that set of purple champagne glasses? Smash them to pieces, advises Superbalist.com.

The online retailer last week launched a campaign called "The End of Ugly", encouraging South Africans to film how they destroy unwanted gifts.

"We asked our agency to create something disruptive," said Superbalist.com marketing manager Megan Biebuyck.

What FoxP2 came up with was five videos of "influencers" pulverising objects of their disaffection.

These influencers include 5FM's Poppy Ntshongwana, who takes a baseball bat to a ceramic doll she got from Fresh; actor Maps Maponyane, who pounds a claw-shaped lamp with a hammer; and I See A Different You photographer Innocent Mukheli, who uses an axe on a photo frame.

"People are a medium now," said FoxP2 copywriter Alex Goldberg.

Add dramatic music and super-slow motion and you have a few very watchable adverts.

The goal of the online-only campaign was to get regular South Africans to upload their own videos on Superbalist.com's YouTube channel or on Facebook under #TheEndofUgly. Both the giver of the destroyed object and the demolishing receiver would then qualify for a discount.

But it hasn't caught on. By yesterday #TheEndofUgly had no uploads.

"The mechanic is kind of an effort-intensive one," admitted Biebuyck.

You would have to put yourself out there. Uploading a selfie to Facebook somehow feels less public that putting a video on YouTube.

And what if your video does not look as good as Ntshongwana's or Mukheli's?

Don't forget that most South Africans access their internet via their mobiles.

High data charges could also be a barrier to this sort of campaign, said Goldberg.

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