South Park is a highly successful
cartoon sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy
Central TV network. The show was launched in 1997 and quickly became
notorious for its rude language, minimalist characters and black,
surreal satire. It was aimed at an adult audience and poked fun at a
wide range of topical or taboo subjects. South Park has received many
accolades, including five Primetime Emmy Awards. It is the third
longest-running cartoon series in the U.S. behind The Simpsons and
Arthur. Yet it was very nearly cancelled when initial tests showed
that most people did not like it.
Parker and Stone met at a film class at the University of Colorado
in 1992. They developed a number of humorous animated productions and
came to the attention of a Comedy Central executive who commissioned
a pilot episode for a proposed animated series. The pair spent three
months creating the pilot episode which was called, ‘Cartman Gets
an Anal Probe’. When it was shown to test audiences the results
were dire. It provoked a strong reaction – mostly negative. The
majority of viewers disliked it and it was particularly unpopular
with women. However, a minority audience, mainly young men, really
liked it.
The household goods giant Reckitt
Benckiser developed a new cleaning product. Before launching the
product they carried out consumer tests. Most consumers in the tests
did not like the product but a minority (often men) really liked it.
“Bland
products upset no-one but delight no-one and they get lost in the
welter of goods on offer. “
It
is no good launching a ‘me too’ product which is similar to or
even slightly better than most other products on the market. As Seth
Godin stresses in his book, Purple Cow, it is more important to be
different than to be better.
To
read full blog about Don’t
Be Afraid of Upsetting People – A Negative Reaction is Better than
no Reaction
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Management.
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