Bad boy branding, or just plain bad?

Definitely the latter. Copyranter posted this pathetic attempt by Jones Soda to launch itself as an "un-PC" brand in New Zealand:

Click to embiggen.

They end up coming off as both trying to hard and being incredibly dumb. If you want to make fun of political correctness, this is how it's done:



But Jones' total lack of irony just makes them look like a wannabe internet tough guy. Or at best, a troll.

Lame, DDB NZ. Just plain lame. Even the whole "unnatural ingredients" thing was done to death by Afri-Cola in the late 90s.

Update: Jones Soda head office says they didn't approve the ad, and blamed it on their NZ distributor:

This ad is counterintuitive with Jones Soda's core values of celebrating uniqueness and individuality, and we deeply apologize for any offense it has created.

Unbeknown to us, the ad was created by an advertising agency in New Zealand on behalf of a distribution partner.

Please know this ad was not approved by Jones Soda's corporate, we do not agree with it, and are working on its immediate removal.