Ever since the Grim Reaper crept onto our screens in the 80s shock advertising has been used to drill home health and safety messages.

But consumer brands have followed suit, recruiting shock tactics into their own repertoire of tools.

In this week’s The Brief Jessica Kennedy talks to Quit Victoria’s executive director Fiona Sharkie about how effective shock is when it comes to changing behavior.

Fiona Jolly of the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) explains why complaints against fear and guilt inducing health ads are rarely upheld.

The Brief will also focus on three recent ‘shocking’ ads with Just Cremations spokesperson Clint Ford and Bianca Bugeja, Oxy brand manager at Mentholatum, discussing the ideas behind their campaigns as Nick Cleaver, chief executive of 303Lowe, chats about the Carefree ad that dropped the ’v-bomb’.

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