Australia: Volley Shoes blows up its brand!

Volley, a shoe brand by the company Brand Collective, is using a highly sexualised advertising campaign in an effort to promote its well-known sports shoe. Volley has made an error. Last year the industry watchdog, the Advertising Standards Board, said the advertising campaign failed the Advertiser Code of Ethics.

Yet, the innapropriate advertising remains on the Volley website which markets shoes for babies, toddlers, youths, teenagers and adults.

Only our politicians are able to make effective changes to our laws. That is why we are asking you to write to the Federal Communications Minister, Mitch Fifield today. Exposing children and the wider community to sexualised content is no way to promote sports shoes. Volley make think getting people talking increases their brand recognition but the opposite is happening.

Volley attempted to respond to its criticized advertising campaign by accusing anyone who objects are simply 'haters' and ‘homophobic.’  

Shoe brand Volley ad campaign, features gay male models kissing in their underwear. The iconic sneaker label, which dropped the Dunlop prefix in 2014, launched the #Grassroots campaign last August to promote its Spring Summer 2016 collection.  The nude photoshoot by Australian photographer Marisa Taschke includes images of two men hugging, kissing and naked models posing on a tennis court.

Thousands have criticised the “overly sexual” campaign. Many mentioning that it robs kids of their innocence, it links sport with homosexuality and promotes sex instead of exercise. Kids who were on back-to-school shopping trips looking for new sneakers would be confronted by Volley’s “inappropriate” marketing.

Kids would be confronted R+ rated immoral adult concepts — naked bodies in sexually explicit poses. This is not what parents expect from a website such as Volley.

Volley’s marketing manager Maria Doubrovski intentionally used a controversial abhorent homosexual image as an advertising position. She said while she had expected negative feedback, the brand was shocked by the amount of disagreement directed towards the homosexual community. 

Volley chose to profile a highly controversial image of homosexuals kissing when many millions of Australians see homosexuality and the homosexual propaganda machine pushing for homosexual marriage as completely dysfunctional, wrong, sinful, disordered lifestyle, and an expression of a depraved mind.

Trying desperately to save the brand, Ms Doubrovski said; “There’s been some very negative commentary. We’re not marketing these shoes to kids. All of the [marketing] channels we used were directed towards adults.”

But then we notice the change in intent from promoting shoes to promoting the homosexual lifestyle and nudity.

“We’re trying to empower women and men ... we want them to feel comfortable in their own skin and free to love whoever they want.”

Then the representative from Volley contradicts herself, previously saying their advertising was focused on adults, now the company wants to focus on a younger audience. ACL was completely correct in their criticism of Volley.

“But since the launch of the campaign that’s changed to a younger demographic. I think it’s definitely spreading awareness.”