Advertising in the Time of Coronavirus -

As we release this second issue of Kattison Avenue, our world is gripped by the Coronavirus and the COVID-19 pandemic. In what feels like an instant, work, commerce and our very lives have changed in ways many of us could not previously have imagined. March ended with no madness (of the NCAA basketball tournament variety, at least), and baseball’s Opening Day remains TBD. Businesses are adapting and evolving as we all adjust to the new normal of work from home, e-learning and shelter-in-place orders. Unsurprisingly, these changes have had a significant effect on advertising.

Messages have certainly changed. Most of us no doubt have heard how much financial institutions, car makers and household brands care about their consumers (and hope those consumers continue to buy their products!). Some brands have realized messages that may have been well received just a few months ago may not be viewed in the same light in the current environment. Coors Light, for example, pulled an ad touting its product as the “Official Beer of Working Remotely” for fear that it would be viewed as making light of the (then) new self-quarantining movement. KFC pulled commercials that showed montages of people licking their fingers in public after eating KFC’s famously “finger lickin’ good” fried chicken.