Bon Appetit is inviting consumers to bite them, or me, or the magazine itself, or the food shown inside its covers – it’s not completely clear, to be honest. While who or what they’re encouraging readers to take a bite of is up for debate, their bold new advertising campaign isn’t – it’s ready to run.
As the New York Times reports, the Conde Nast publication and venerable food magazine is rolling out a new advertising and promotional campaign, in traditional print as well as on its website, bonappetit.com, that is likely to raise some eyebrows – for better or for worse – with its tagline: “Bite me.”
The new look isn’t on their site yet, but when it does arrive I’m not totally sure what to expect – it should summon some interested glances. According to the article, the “Bite me” message will be shown in pictures in a number of different ways including “scribbled in lipstick on a bathroom mirror, tattooed on a man’s muscular arm, written in gold on a necklace and posted on a flight information board at an airport, where ‘B.A.’ stands for Bon Appetit rather than British Airways.”
Pretty clever stuff, if you ask me.
The article quotes William J. Wackermann, executive vice president and publishing director at Conde Nast in New York, who says the theme of the campaign is to get readers to understand that “food is not sacred, not austere, not something we intend to put in a museum, but rather real and touchable.”
Well, Mr. Wackermann, this could do the trick. I’m no food critic, but at the very least the message should garner attention.
As I mentioned earlier, the magazine’s web site is pretty basic today, so stay tuned because it will be interesting to see how it looks with a cheeky makeover. The biting begins next Monday.
