The truth is I have to give the “Truth” campaign credit for attempting to speak the language of the IM generation.  But “Whudafxup” with the double standard?    

The linguistic train wreck “Truth” has been using for awhile, “Whudafxup,” just might be edgy enough to grab a Ritalin-poppin’, iPod-wearin’ teen’s attention for a millisecond.  Typically attempts to appropriate the youth culture’s language are far cheesier, as AdRants documented last week.  Whudafxup seems to work because its naughtiness makes it feel less contrived.

But the “Truth” is, if this campaign was shilling soft drinks or body spray, I don’t think the advertisers would get away with such raunchy copy.  If Mountain Dew said “Whudafxup with that old people cola, yo.  Do the Dew!!!” it wouldn’t fly.  Should “Truth” be allowed to superimpose “Whudafxup” on the screen while this Dove ad is banned by networks?        

Since the “Truth” is attempting to curb teen smoking, it’s suddenly okay to use a thinly veiled f-bomb.  Perhaps network censors feel it’s a case of the ends justifying the means.  After all, there are plenty of good reasons not to smoke.  And when you’re battling something as cool, delicious, and carcinogenerrific as cigarettes, you need all the help you can get.  Heck, as a reformed smoker all this talk about cigarettes almost leaves me wanting one…and I just looked at a diseased lung.  That’s the power of sweet, sweet nicotine. 

I’m not a prude.  “Whudafxup” seems relatively harmless.  I’m just saying that we raised such a huge stink over Bono’s f-bomb and the nip shot heard round the world that the “Truth” campaign seems to be getting some preferential treatment.  (I know, I know.  An exposed breast donning tacky jewelry and half-naked middle-aged women aren’t the same as a not-so-clever play on the phrase “what the f**k’s up.”  But work with me here).  

I guess the networks and our culture at large are taking a play from across the pond, where they seem to set good taste aside when the public good is at issue.  Take these horribly grotesque “slow down moron” and “wear your seatbelt” ads for example.  We seem to be doing the same for “Truth” when it comes to the “Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV” – or in this case write on TV.

What do you think of this Kantian quagmire?  Should the rules change for certain advertisers if their message has the potential to benefit the greater good?  Or does bending the rules for some result in unintended consequences that might outweigh the intended benefits? 

I’m an advocate of fair and equal treatment for all f-bombs.  I don’t discriminate.  That’s why I worry “Whudafxup” sets a new precedent for pseudo obscenities in TV spots, and jaded copywriters everywhere are foaming at the mouth with long lists of cheesy undercover expletives to fill our public airwaves.     

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