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A PG-13 Ad Campaign
"Screw it" may not be everyone's first choice for an ad campaign's tagline, but that's what Harley-Davidson is doing these days with the apothegm "Screw It, Let's Ride."
The campaign caught my eye with a full-page ad on the back cover of a recent edition of Sports Illustrated. The full text of the ad?
"Over the last 105 years in the saddle, I’ve seen my share of conflict in the world, but every time this country has come out stronger than before. Because chrome and asphalt put distance between me and whatever the world can throw at me. Freedom and wind outlast hard times. And the rumble of my engine drowns out all the spin on the evening news. If 105 years have proved one thing, it’s that fear sucks and it doesn’t last long. So screw it, let’s ride."
The approach brings to mind any number of possibilities for other products.
"When the going gets tough, the tough start spraying." -- Glade Air Fresheners.
"Damn the gas prices, full speed ahead." -- Any number of SUV manufacturers.
"To hell with it, let's blot." -- Bounty Paper Towels.
It's of course impressive that H-D can still trade on its "rebel" image, given the legions of weekend warriors who only bike on Sunday afternoons (still possible without helmets, incidentally, in states like Connecticut--Viva La Revolution!) and the very existence of Harley-Davidson Cafés. But when one actually parses the full "Screw It" ad, one comes away with a somewhat mixed message: that bikers just want to "put distance" from and "drown out" the day's events, and that they haven't actually evolved much from the days of Gimme Shelter and Hunter S. Thompson's Hell's Angels.
Users are actually invited at the H-D webpage to customize the above "rallying cry" into their own personal statement. To date, over 13,000 have done just that, so obviously the brand's core audience actually does do something besides guzzle beer and embody unusual aesthetics.
As long-established companies continue to tweak their brands for an economically uncertain future, though, how far is too far--or does "too far" even exist?
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