Media File #19

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Syringe-inspired burger marketing ploy attracts pointed criticism

Sept 30 2011, SMH

This article is talking about the legal action that has been taken against the "Burger Urge" new pens, they are shaped like a syringe filled with blood. The punch line of the burger shop is "taste addiction" and the pen design flows on from that, Colby Carthew (the co-owner) said. The polices main concern that they voiced was that the syringe-like pen could be used to commit robberies and recovering drug users have come forward and said that the pen made them want to take drugs again. Although Colby Carthew said he never wanted to promote drugs in the campaign. This article is related to the promoting and selling topic in   commerce because the pen made by "Burger Urge" was a promotion tool to make people want to have a burger from their restaurant. In my opinion it is a clever tool because it has strong ties to the recurring theme in "Burger Urge" which is addiction to their burgers. Although to an extent, I would agree with the police because like it mentions in the article, children in schools would likely to be playing with it and pretending to inject themselves and also it has made recovering drug users want to relapse. It is for this reason that it is very important that advertisers be careful to consider all people (even those who may not be their target market) when planning their campaigns.