Back in January, Fast Company posed the question: “Does Legal Seafood’s Blacklisted Fish Dinner Offer Reel Truth or Mere Press Bait?”
Fast-forward to the US restaurant chain’s latest ad campaign, which wins praise from Adrants because, “We love this new campaign for Legal Sea Food. Why? Because it slaps upside the head all the tree-hugging, animal-loving cause groups who spend their days complaining about stuff when, instead, they could be at Legal Seafoods devouring succulent crab, salmon or trout.”
It’s one for Marketing 101 case studies, raising a debate about ads that mimic PSA’s; ads skewering environmental messages; ads of just plain questionable taste; and a restaurant brand that thumbs its nose at all three camps.
The crab spot, for instance, intones: “Save the crab. Save it to show that every creature is sacred, no matter how small. Or just save it so we can chop it up into tasty little crab cakes.”