Using dystopias to sell you running shoes

A dystopia is the opposite of a utopia — a bleak world of war, disease, totalitarianism or environmental collapse. 

And it's a situation fairly common in advertising.

It was the introduction of Apple's Macintosh computer in 1984 that created perhaps the most famous example of using a dystopian setting to sell a product.

In a grey-toned world, we see row after row of drone-like workers whose lives are suddenly changed when a running woman throws a sledge-hammer into a screen — and the ad ends with the bright, multi-coloured Apple logo of the time.

Jump ahead to 2012, and we find a post-apocalyptic Toronto.

A woman struggles to safety but is pursued by flesh-eating zombies. Finally, she's overcome by terror and has a heart attack.

Fortunately, one of the zombies knows CPR and revives her. At the end we see, "CPR makes you undead" — and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada's logo.

Sometimes the bright, shiny world of ads can seem totally out of touch with reality, especially when news reports paint the world as a dark and cruel place.

That's when marketers like Apple and the Heart and Stroke Foundation go in the opposite direction and set their ads in dystopian worlds.

Not only are such concepts arresting and different, they seem to recognize the times we live in, and set up a problem-solution scenario in which products can emerge as heroes.

In a Dulux paint ad from 2014, we are shown a totalitarian world where colour is prohibited.

But a young woman smuggles home a can of blue paint, and ushers in an underground movement of colour. 

Last year, Taco Bell created a drab, authoritarian world of sameness, policed by clown-faced soldiers.

It slowly becomes obvious that McDonald's might be behind the oppressive uniformity. Meanwhile, two young defectors break away into a green and natural world where everyone is eating Taco Bell wraps.

Of course, sometimes the product-as-solution-to-dystopia metaphor isn't entirely logical. Isn't the monotony of McDonald's simply replaced by the monotony of Taco Bell?

An Adidas ad from January of this year makes a similarly shaky argument. It evokes a crowded, gritty world of sad, homogenous citizens. But going against the grain are a handful of hip young people wearing new athletic shoes.

At the end of the ad, we see the Adidas logo — and we're meant to believe that conforming to the latest styles of footwear will somehow set us apart from the crowd. 

Finally, let's go back to a memorable dystopian ad from the 2012 U.S. presidential primaries.

In an ad for the Rick Santorum campaign, voters were asked to imagine an America two years in the future "if Obama is re-elected" — and were given scenes of a fraying, worn-out America. 

While dystopian ads can seem fresh and relevant, there's always the risk that if you create too much negativity and fear, consumers might associate that with your product.

So it's essential for marketers to clearly demonstrate how their product is different — and offers consumers a hopeful, meaningful solution.

Bruce Chambers is a syndicated advertising columnist for CBC Radio.