NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Blame it on Janet Jackson.
The backlash from her 'wardrobe malfunction' during January's Super Bowl half-time show has prompted some major companies to reconsider the use of risqué advertising.
Anheuser-Busch (BUD: Research, Estimates), known for its over-the-top humor and shocking TV advertisements, said last month that it will tone down commercials for its Budweiser and Bud Light beers.
During an advertising conference in Miami, Anheuser-Busch CEO August Busch IV told a group of ad agency executives that his company will reconsider using ads of questionable taste as a result of the Super Bowl incident and its aftermath, a spokesman for conference sponsor American Association of Advertising Agencies told CNN/Money.
Anheuser-Busch, a big spender on advertising time slots during Super Bowl telecasts, also said it has pulled two popular ads that were under heavy scrutiny -- one that featured a crotch-biting dog and the other that showed horse flatulence.
"No one could have known this Janet thing would have this kind of ripple," said Jim Hanas, editor of AdCritic.com. "But part of Budweiser's job as a marketer is to stay in tune with what consumers seem to be wanting."
Several phone and e-mail requests to Anheuser-Busch were not answered immediately for a phone interview.
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Anheuser-Busch said it had pulled a Bud Light commercial that shows a horse passes gas into the face of a young woman out on what was supposed to be a romantic date.
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The nation's largest beer company isn't the first to reconsider advertising that might be considered tasteless.
Limited Brands (LTD: Research, Estimates), parent of Victoria's Secret, announced last month that it had cancelled its racy televised fashion show that had been scheduled for fall 2004. The move was widely thought to have been made in direct response to the Super Bowl controversy, although a company spokesman denied such speculation.
"It's fashion, and we just can't always use the same way to promote the brand," said Ed Razek, chief marketing officer for Limited.
Ford Motor (F: Research, Estimates), the No.2 U.S. automaker, also had its share of advertising controversy.
A so-called "viral" ad campaign for Ford's Sportka, a hatchback sold in Europe, that shows a realistic looking cat being decapitated by a power sunroof, surfaced over the Internet in early April, but was quickly disavowed by the automaker.
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Quiznos Sub told CNN/Money that the ad wasn't pulled due to its content, but had simply completed its 4-week scheduled run before going off the air.
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The idea for the video was one of the two proposals advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather pitched to Ford, but the clip was made without approval from either party, Don Hume, a U.K. spokesperson for Ford, told CNN/Money.
The Detroit-based automaker has made an immediate apology to animal rights groups and to anybody who was offended by the content, said Hume. "An internal investigation was ordered by Ford and Ogilvy to determine how unapproved material found its way into the public domain," he added.
"Marketers are trying to avoid any kind of backlash right now," said Hanas. But not everyone is looking to pull back in the marketing of their products.
Quiznos Sub, a small but rapidly growing fast-food chain, said it received some complaints when one of its TV commercials, featuring a man, along with a baby wolf, energetically nursing on a mother wolf, aired in November 2003.
But it's typical for a company that doesn't have a big ad budget to use edgier advertisements than other fast-food chains, said Stacie Lange, a spokeswoman for Quiznos.
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"People either love it, or they just don't get it. We don't go for mainstream advertising that looks like just about every other fast-food advertisement out there," she said.
The "wolf" ad was intended to show that the man who prefers a non-Quiznos sandwich was raised by wolves, said the Quiznos spokeswoman. The ad wasn't pulled due to its content, but had simply completed its four-week scheduled run before going off the air, Lange added.
"Quiznos was always upfront about saying that they don't have the budget like Subway has, so they need high-impact advertising," said AdCritic.com's Hanas. A non-traditional marketing method simply carries the message further, he added.
"We have done studies after running these ads that show consumers have a higher awareness of Quiznos after certain campaigns like this one," said Lange. "It was launched in conjunction with the launch of our new Philly Cheese Steak sub, and that was one of our best sellers yet to date," she added
Privately-held Quiznos said it never intended its marketing strategy to be offensive, and the company has not changed its strategy since the Super Bowl incident.
"There's always going to be marketers who see the value in creating buzz," said Hanas. "Just because one advertiser said they are not going to do it, it doesn't mean it will stop completely," he added.
But some marketing experts said over-the-top advertisements don't always carry out the right message.
Raunchy or shocking ads don't build brands, said Kathy Delaney, an executive creative director for ad agency Deutsch Inc.
"A good ad always needs to have something that is about human relevancy or truth. Something makes me connect to the brand on the emotional level," added Delaney, whose accounts include Snapple and Revlon. "People might remember an obscenity or a bad piece of humor in an ad, but they don't necessarily remember the brand."
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