Don't get me wrong, I'm no prude, but does anyone else think that dolphin music ad in SOS in bad taste??

I think a pubescent girl sucking a lollypop with the title..."Good-head for music?" just makes me wanna turn the page. Who's on their books, Gary Glitter?? Michael Jackson??

im with you on that one mate, theres a lot of bad taste in advertising but i thought this was a bit crude.

i saw it first in the march issue so mebbe nobody else is that bothered .. it would serpently make me think twice about buying anything from dolphin .. urgh

grainger

Yes, I thought the same thing.

God knows I'm no prude, but it just seemed incredibly tacky. Like one of those biker's magazines or something.

Perhaps not in the best of taste but, more than anything, simply naff advertising.

I've just checked the advert. To my mind it's not implying pubescence despite the schoolgirl bunches. The model appears quite mature. She doesn't appear innocent or vulnerable. However it certainly begs the question, is any sexually suggestive advertising necessary in advertising music-tech?

They seem like good guys at Dolphin. I've bought a couple of things from them and had excellent service. They seem very keen to make a success of online music-tech retailing. Let them know if you're that offended I'm sure they'll take your comments seriously.

Jim

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Original artwork and unique devices inspired by vintage technology http://www.thisisobsolete.com

I've not seen the advert...

http://www.musicstorekoeln.de/englisch/

I remeber when I got my first Music Store catalogue its the only audio catalogue I've ever seen to have models in bikinkis on everypage. I thought kylies bum on the bass page was funny.... They did it all in quite a comical way such as they photoshop there staff into photos and stuff....

I'll look out for the odd advert...

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P.I.G.L.E.T - where is polly?

nah the dolphin model is obviously supposed to be a kid, with the lolly and pigtails ..

I remember when Music Connections (before digital village acquired them) started placing sexy girls on their sos adverts. I though it was bad taste.

I have no issue with sexy girls and I'd happily enjoy looking at cute girls but Its just not right within the context of a magazine like SOS.

I personally blame Sound On Sound for allowing it. SOS is a respected serious publication and in my opinion those kind of adverts lower the tone.

SOS! you should ashamed of yourselves!!!

I thought that as well, bit tacky, for what it implies, and she looks a bit too young, although probably about 22.

Just stupid.

Well its not a good advert really at all, what has a lolly being licked got to do with music gear. The lass definately looks young and am not really convinced that it is at all relavent to advertising what Dolphin sell.

The ad tells me nothing about the range of products that Dolphin stock. At first I couldnt decide whether this looked like a recruitment poster or an advert.

More fool Dolphin Music for placing an advert that looks so rubbish. What a pointless advert. It wont stop me looking at their website as its already bookmarked. However if they read this thread then I suggest that they get better ad writers. Maybe a few special offers would not be a bad start for an advert in SOS.

"However it certainly begs the question, is any sexually suggestive advertising necessary in advertising music-tech?"

Is it necessary in ANY advertising? In terms of morality, what's the difference between sexy images in music-tech, car, beer, motorbike or any other ads.?

I have to say, I hadn't noticed the ad until this thread drew my attention to it. I have trained myself over some years to just blank TV, magazine and newspaper ads.

So, having had a look at it, I have to say that she's a pretty girl. The ad is seemingly calculated to draw the attention of (what I imagine is) a predominantly male readership. Didn't work on me.

So, liberal as ever, I'm neutral on this one.

Slightly surprised at the prudish (or is that "politically correct"?) reaction from some here. But not so surprised that I actually give a toss.

Shiv

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"Qui habet aures audiendi audiat"

yeh i totaly agree its not good

I have no problem with sex related advertising, as long as it's in the right context.

If i wanted images like that, i'd buy FHM.

If i wanted Music-tech related info i'd buy SOS.

I see no reason why the two need to be intertwined, people are not going to let an advert like this draw them in, and bring the shop business, as in SOS they're looking for Music-tech related info, Not borderline pornography.

Dolphin should know better, don't they realise that the only thing that gets the mostly male visitors to SOS sexually aroused is the sight of a shiny new valve preamp or some unaffordable esoteric microphone.......

Girls....hmmm where do I plug them in?

Shame on you Dolphin Music. We don't want smut in our beloved Sound on Sound magazine. Please use a more professional ad.

Send these perverts a complaint email. info@dolphinmusic.co.uk

Quote grAInger:

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im with you on that one mate, theres a lot of bad taste in advertising but i thought this was a bit crude.

i saw it first in the march issue so mebbe nobody else is that bothered .. it would serpently make me think twice about buying anything from dolphin .. urgh

grainger

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That's exactly how I feel about it.
It's in CM as well I've.....er.... been told Bad taste.

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www.myspace.com/arcanamusic

Quote The Bob Campbell:

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Girls....hmmm where do I plug them in?

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Yeah, I've tested my wife for USB compatitibility and she wasn't happy about it.

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need to get rid of this stupid sig...

Quote Ultimate Fish:

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Yeah, I've tested my wife for USB compatitibility and she wasn't happy about it.

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I am genuinely laughing out loud at that!

I agree, rubbish ad and in bad taste too with all sorts of suggestion that we don't need in SOS.

Firstly I would like to apologise to anybody for found our advert offensive or in bad taste. As a result of this feedback this will be the final issue we will run the lollipop advert.

Secondly with regards to the young lady in the advert she is certainly over 18, we purchased the image from a reputable image library called Getty Images.

Here is the original image:
http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/rs/adverts-feedback/original-girl.jpg

Our advert was meant to be cheeky, attention grabbing and stand outs in the magazine. Admittedly this has very little appeal to female audience, but at least 90% of the SOS readership is male. We liked and thought it was funny, lots of people agreed.

We have been getting feedback from our customers and it has been mostly positive, however being honest we have had a few negative comments which we have taken on board.
http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/news_story/a/news_id/e/196

We hope that our new advert will be more to your liking:
http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/news_story/a/news_id/e/222

It is our objective to become the best music retailer in the industry. We aim to to have all products in stock, expert staff, efficient logistics and a very high level of customer service. We aim to take the online retailing experience to the next level.

I know this last paragraph may sound like the usual propaganda companies say about them but give us a chance, or second chance, by considering us for you next purchase. We are good guys who mean well and work hard at what we do. Judge us on our service not our adverts.

If any of you guys would like to give us any further feedback please contact me directly.

Kind Regards

Rob Williams
Dolphin Music
Tel: 0870 840 9060
Email: rob@dolphinmusic.co.uk
Web: http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk

BTW, if any of you are looking for a new sound card please tryout a new search tool we are currently testing:
http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/news_story/a/news_id/e/223

Quote Ultimate Fish:

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Quote The Bob Campbell:

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Girls....hmmm where do I plug them in?

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Yeah, I've tested my wife for USB compatitibility and she wasn't happy about it.

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Yeah, same here. She claims she doesn't support 'Plug & Play', apparently...

On the subject of the ad, yes it is inappropriate - If I want pictures of girls sucking lollipops then I'm sure the internet can furnish me with more than I could ever need... Besides, what about the women readers of the mag - it's not going to entertain them, by and large, is it?

Good to see them responding to the discussion, but I still can't help seeing this as PC gone wrong. It's just an advert and hardly breaking the law.

I've been here before but I wrote to the editor of a computer magazine about inaccurate claims in a Microsoft supplement which he agreed. That was more offensiv to me as that was blatant lies and a company trying to mislead the public.

Any advert can be seen as offensive to certain people but if we pulled everything like that, we'd have no adverts.

Remember that the editor has the final say in what gets published which suggests SOS didn't see a problem with it.

Isn't the company name offensive to dolphins?

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Jack of all trades, master of some.

yeah good on dolphin ..

Quote BigAl:

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Isn't the company name offensive to dolphins?

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Yeah, but they didn't do it on porpoise

Quote Rob Williams:

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Firstly I would like to apologise to anybody for found our advert offensive or in bad taste. As a result of this feedback this will be the final issue we will run the lollipop advert.

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See told you! Can't get fairer than that. And do give them a chance. As far as online retailing goes they've really got it together. I used to browse the following sites

http://www.dawsons.co.uk
http://www.turnkey.uk.com
http://www.piedog.co.uk
http://www.gak.co.uk

when window shopping or considering purchases. But their search facilities are crude and you get a sense that they are simply brochures with no real connection to their stock system. If Dolphin haven't got it it says 0 available. Plus they're doing cool stuff like this

http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/?page=shop/soundcard_selector

to help you select a soundcard.

As far as their website goes they're really streets ahead of any of the other retailers. They're also linking to magazine product reviews and so on. Dolphin, you could add sound demos, video clips?

Jim

ps. dear dolphinmusic, pm me if you'd like to give me some gift vouchers for all my +ve PR

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Original artwork and unique devices inspired by vintage technology http://www.thisisobsolete.com

Quote BigAl:

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Good to see them responding to the discussion, but I still can't help seeing this as PC gone wrong. It's just an advert and hardly breaking the law.


Any advert can be seen as offensive to certain people but if we pulled everything like that, we'd have no adverts.

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i dunno al, i like a bit of arse like most blokes, it wasnt anything to do with being pc .. the picture is just obviously supposed to be a schoolkid. no one said it was breaking the law, this is the first time in me life ive found an ad offensive, but i do have a daughter younger than that now so mebbe i really am getting to be an owd fart ..

i was surprised sos let it through ..

grainger

I hate kiddie violation just as much as the next person, but I saw the ad for what it was, i.e. a bit of harmless wink, wink, pnnarr, pnnarr, school boy humour.

Good on Dolphin for listening to other people's concerns though.


NCGM

the advert was just tacky, tacky, tacky and dare I say a little sad.

Now that's all done and dusted, and we know the girl is over 18, does anyone happen to have her phone number?

I'm looking for a piano tuna - do you think they could help?

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Jack of all trades, master of some.

There is no such thing as bad publicity, and whether or not you deem the ad tacky it definitely worked since we are all talking about Dolphin Music!

As Oscar Wilde said: "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about".

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Stand by for action - we are about to launch Stingray!
Cue irritating bongo music ...

This has just become the most successful advertising campaign Dolphin have ever run

This thread has got me wondering what the typical SOS reader demographic is ?

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"Computer games dont affect kids. If Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running round in dark rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music"

I think that some of you guys seem to be over reacting just slightly. Talking about michael jackson and gary glitter????

If any of you have been outside recently in the evening you will have seen that some older women actually dress like this to look young. I don't think Dolphin intentionally got a pubescent girl for this advert.

I have been buying my gear from Dolphin Music for years and they are really good guys. They are a lot younger than most people in this business and may be that is why the girl seems young. I think some of us are just getting old!

I certainly think that some of these posts are a little strong to say the least and the fact that they are pulling the advert says a lot for their reaction to peoples opinion.

I hope that people don't judge them on this advert, personally having "cheapest prices guarenteed" and "we will match any genuine price" is pretty tacky. Don't you think that most retailers adverts are all pretty similar? It's about time someone did something different in SOS adverts as I think the ones we have to put up with are getting a bit long in the tooth! If i want to check the retailers out I go to their website, long are the days of checking everyones prices in SOS. Long Live the New Style of advertising - RIP - crappy cheapest low price adverts!

Hi Guys,

I just wanted to say that as one of the few FEMALE readers of SOS... I think the advert is quite amusing!

I definately do not find it offensive... its just a bit of fun.

I thought it was quite refreshing to see an advert that wasnt just the same old collection of tiny pictures of products people are trying to get shifted...

Shouldn't we encourage creativity and new ideas within music tech? Think they're the first to try and develop a brand image?? Good on em I say... looking forward to the next one.

Cheekz ; )

> Shouldn't we encourage creativity and new ideas within music tech?

Indeed we should, but the advert wasn't creative or a new idea, it's been done to death before and was just naff, can't say it particularly offended me though.


> There is no such thing as bad publicity

Tell that to Gerald Ratner...

She has rather large hands.

Quote The real musiclover:

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She has rather large hands.

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Eh...????

wheter or not you'd liked it.. it has worked pretty well as this thread demonstrates, and everybody has seen this.. That's a good thing for them then..

but I do find it a bit cheap .. they could have put some more thought into it to turn this idea into a good add (or search a better add agency). Change the headline slighly or change the visual.. eg.. keep the headline, take a picture of some metal chick shoving a mic down her throat (while on stage, you know how these metal types handle their mics..).. now that would work better.

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Didn't your mother ever tell you not to eat nuclear warheads?

Quote Rob Williams:

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Firstly I would like to apologise to anybody for found our advert offensive or in bad taste. As a result of this feedback this will be the final issue we will run the lollipop advert.

Secondly with regards to the young lady in the advert she is certainly over 18, we purchased the image from a reputable image library called Getty Images.

Here is the original image:
http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/rs/adverts-feedback/original-girl.jpg

Our advert was meant to be cheeky, attention grabbing and stand outs in the magazine. Admittedly this has very little appeal to female audience, but at least 90% of the SOS readership is male. We liked and thought it was funny, lots of people agreed.

We have been getting feedback from our customers and it has been mostly positive, however being honest we have had a few negative comments which we have taken on board.
http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/news_story/a/news_id/e/196

We hope that our new advert will be more to your liking:
http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/news_story/a/news_id/e/222

It is our objective to become the best music retailer in the industry. We aim to to have all products in stock, expert staff, efficient logistics and a very high level of customer service. We aim to take the online retailing experience to the next level.

I know this last paragraph may sound like the usual propaganda companies say about them but give us a chance, or second chance, by considering us for you next purchase. We are good guys who mean well and work hard at what we do. Judge us on our service not our adverts.

If any of you guys would like to give us any further feedback please contact me directly.

Kind Regards

Rob Williams
Dolphin Music
Tel: 0870 840 9060
Email: rob@dolphinmusic.co.uk
Web: http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk

BTW, if any of you are looking for a new sound card please tryout a new search tool we are currently testing:
http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/news_story/a/news_id/e/223

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OMG what's this?!

A music technology retailer actually listening to its customers? Bizarre...

Good reply Rob, and good attitude.

I don't think anyone's over-reacted or suggested the ad was illegal, which it obviously wasn't. Just a bit tacky - people are simply voicing their opinions, I don't see anyone phoning up the Christian Coalition to have Dolphin blacklisted. And it's obviously been useful for Dolphin to have the feedback.

Interesting that.

2 people join Sos at almost the same time, one male, one female, both have no user data about themselves apart from a handle. Both come in and support Dolphin in this post and then post in no other threads.

Mmmmm...interesting.

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Samplecraze
Stretch That Note