Russia, a land of Vodka and tennis and beautiful supermodels, is attracting worldwide attention for an avalanche of accidents caused by a naked breasts-ad campaign.
According to reports, the campaign was started by AdvTruck– an advertising company in Moscow– that was trying to convince businesses to invest in mobile billboards that would be featured on moving vans across the city. To advertise the available billboards, AdvTruck hired 30 billboard vans that displayed a woman cupping her beautiful, voluptuous, head turning breasts, with the text, “They attract.”
A spokesman for AdvTruck said, “We were planning to bring a new advertising format onto the market, encouraging companies to place their ads on the sides of trucks, as we thought this would be a good alternative to putting them on the sides of public transport. We wanted to draw attention to this new format with this campaign.”
The ad campaign, however, has caused more trouble than the company ever expected. Officials have stated that 517 accidents were reported in just one day, all of which concerned drivers blaming the ad campaign as a huge distraction.
Russian motorist Ildar Yuriev says, “I was on my way to a business meeting when I saw this truck with a huge photo of breasts on its side go by. Then I was hit by the car behind who said he had been distracted by the truck. It made me late and left my car in the garage, and although I am insured I am still out of pocket.”
Russians were so outraged by the advertisement that they were immediately banned. But there are still many planning on taking legal action against the company. In an attempt at appeasement, though the company has already come out saying that they will cover any damages that are not covered by insurance.
“In all cases of accidents, the car owners will receive compensation costs from us that aren’t covered by their insurance.”
Despite the city-wide carnage, one thing can’t be disputed: the ad campaign has definitely worked, with 100s of websites picking up the story and talking about the company. As the saying goes, “Any press is good press.”
4Wheel Online Blog - Automotive News 