Green Pharmaceuticals and SnoreStop are at it again with a marketing campaign that has created media buzz. The Camarillo company is putting up billboards that feature non-traditional couples who have benefitted from its sprays and tablets to reduce snoring. The first billboard placed along Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles features a U.S. soldier alongside his wife, a Muslim woman wearing a head covering that reveals only her eyes. At the SnoreStop website are additional photos showing an inter-racial couple, two same sex couples (male and female), and an older white couple – part of a bold marketing campaign that celebrates diversity and brings attention to the company. “Our product is for couples and it likely keeps couples together whoever they are,” said Christian de Rivel, the company’s head of sales. Some don’t see it that way. “Billboard Depicting U.S. Soldier and Muslim Woman Sparks Controversy” read several website headlines. At the U.S. version of online newspaper The Guardian, columnist Aseel Machi, who is Iraqi, wrote the billboard was offensive and stereotyped Muslim women. De Rivel said the billboard image was inspired by a true-life soldier who married a Muslim woman, but the couple depicted for SnoreStop features actor, Paul Evans, who does serve in the military, and Lexy Panterra, an actress. “This is a way of having people who can represent couples that are like this,” he said. The ad also has stirred up debate about Islam, Muslims in America and the U.S. military on the comment section of the company’s Facebook page. But De Rivel noted it also has drawn an 80 percent approval rating on the site, and the company has no plans to halt the campaign. It is not the first time the sleep aid has taken a creative approach with its advertising, although past SnoreStop campaigns have generated much less acrimony. In 2005, the company received international media coverage by paying $37,000 in an online auction at eBay to put the SnoreStop logo on the forehead of a college student. Three years later, it forked over $9,000 to sponsor Greg Krause to run the New York Marathon in specially designed jammies bearing the SnoreStop logo. – Mark R. Madler
Billboard No Snore for Sleep Outfit
