Can anything halt the momentum of the Korean car industry? Er, possibly the Korean car industry, or at least Hyundai's ad agency Innocean Worldwide. Both companies have found themselves at the heart of an online storm over the 'leak' of what appears to be an advert for the hydrogen powered Hyundai IX35, in which a man tries to commit suicide by gassing himself but fails due to the lack of poisonous emissions.
A heartfelt blog by advertising copywriter Holly Brockwell, whose own father committed suicide, expressing her personal - and professional - outrage has gathered almost as much coverage as the advert itself, column inches in the mainstream media off the back of it only adding to Hyundai's woes. All of which makes an earlier storm over the 'evil' Ford SportKa doing unpleasant things to birds and cats seem like a relic of a more innocent age.
"I've got a great idea for an advert..."
Twitter commentators have been quick to condemn both Hyundai and Innocean, including 'professional petrolhead' Hannah Burgess, herself orphaned when her parents committed suicide. Both she and Brockwell have been widely supported in their very public expressions of outrage but have also had to weather some less than sympathetic online responses. "It was a big deal to tell the world how I became an orphan," Burgess told us, "but I think it was key to people understanding how adverts trying to monetise suicide [cause upset] and how it can affect people from all walks of life."
Hyundai UK, however implausibly, claims "absolutely no involvement in this whatsoever", telling us "It was not an advert; they [Innocean] created a concept for a viral but it was neither asked for nor approved by Hyundai."
Hyundai's global office said "Hyundai Motor deeply and sincerely apologises for the offensive viral film. The film runs counter to our values as a company and as members of the community. We are very sorry for any offense or distress the video caused."
Meanwhile the agency said "Innocean Worldwide deeply and sincerely apologises for any offense or distress that the posting of the viral film may have caused. This viral film was created and posted on Youtube for one day by Innocean Worldwide Europe to get consumers' feedback on creative idea employing hyperbole to dramatize a product advantage without any other commercial purpose. Nevertheless, as a company that espouses strong family values, Innocean would never intentionally set out to cause distress. More to the point, Innocean apologises to those who have been personally impacted by tragedy."
