A short video recently circulating on social media shows Adolf Hitler drinking from a can of Fanta while angrily proclaiming, “I hate juice.” Though millions mistook it for an authentic commercial, sparking fierce online debate, it is actually an AI-generated meme.

Its artificial nature is fairly obvious, given that the colour, fonts and logo on the can look nothing like actual Fanta packaging. So why did so many people fall for it? The answer lies in our current media topography, where “shockvertising” has been methodically normalised.

The term ‘shockvertising’ emerged in the early 1990s, though the practice dates back to public health campaigns in the late 1960s, and describes a marketing strategy that deliberately violates social, moral or aesthetic boundaries to startle, offend or disturb an audience. Unlike traditional advertisements that highlight product benefits, shockvertising relies on instinctive reactions like fear, disgust, horror or outrage to cut through commercial noise.

This is done to drive high brand recall and generate free publicity. Due to the fact that real brands have pushed boundaries in the recent past, a concept as absurd as a Hitler-themed Fanta advertisement suddenly felt plausible to an over-stimulated public.

In an online world where algorithms reward anger over accuracy, outrage has become one of the most valuable forms of currency in the digital age

In an online world where algorithms reward anger over accuracy, outrage has become one of the most valuable forms of currency in the digital age

The earliest examples of shockvertising emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s through Western government........

© Dawn (Magazines)