• by Seana Mulcahy , July 23, 2007

Well, we sure have had a year filled with false scares, mainly in the street/viral marketing sense. The hoopla caused by Cartoon Network in Boston earlier this year made online marketers raised an eyebrow. It begs the question: "How can we create and implement out-of-the-box viral advertising if we can't touch the streets?"

Many decide to push the edges of the envelope in their creative development and media vehicle. Did you hear this one? Turns out ad company Traffix, Inc. took the liberty of using 50 Cent's image without his permission. Apparently, his image was inserted into an ad promoting a game and ringtone sales.

The ad was dubbed, "Shoot the rapper." This online ad features a cartoon representation that closely resembles him. The messaging is: "Shoot the Rapper and you will WIN $5,000 or 5 RINGTONES GUARANTEED." In the ad, users can use their mouse or keyboard controls to aim and fire at the hip-hop star. If the user makes a successful shot, his or her screen then gets covered in red to look like blood. The user is then directed to the Traffix Web site, where they can buy all sorts of things.

Not sure how that got approved by the creative director. I also would not want to tick of an extremely successful, well-known hip-hop star know for gun violence. 50 Cent says his image is portrayed digitally in this game.

He's upset. As he said, it not only promotes violence but also threatens his safety. Seven years ago, 50 Cent (aka Curtis Jackson) was shot nine times while at his grandmother's house, where he was raised. In 2005, his movie "Get Rich or Die Tryin' ", which followed his CD, sold 11 million copies. Duh. Don't you think that would be shaky territory Traffix?

The lawsuit is reportedly recorded in New York for a minimum of $1 million for damages by 50 against Traffix. In the lawsuit, the singer says his image was "completely unauthorized." He also refers to as it as "tasteless" and "despicable." The suit asks for an immediate injunction on the use of the image. "It was very disturbing to him, and it certainly wasn't funny," said 50 Cent's attorney Peter Raymond.

So I wondered: Is 50 Cent really looking at online advertising? Apparently someone on his management team found it on none other than MySpace.

When are we going to see, create and show some social responsibility not only with the images we create and use, but with the placement and consideration of the audience? Isn't this creative and media 101? Aren't there better ways to cut through the clutter? If this company was trying to incentive users to buy ringtones, don't you think they could have come up with something better? First off, get the rights to images. Second, why not tie the ad into some cool streaming video and audio sans violence?

What would you have done if that was your campaign? How would you strategize and stand out from the clutter? Do you think anyone should get away with illustrating violence in advertising? What about all these online gaming companies spending huge dollars on TV ads promoting its games? Every time I see that stuff it jars me. I am not the demographic but how is that possible?

Today, I am shaking my head. Let us know how you feel. Post to the SPIN blog, and let's get this conversation started.