Waterhouse's desperate advertising campaign tarnishes the family brand

His family has been famous for generations in Australia, and now his sister and sister-in-law are the darlings of 21st century social media, so we can probably understand why Tom Waterhouse might have trouble being "noticed".

But surely that's no excuse for looking desperate?

Racing scion Tom Waterhouse and his "family", minus wife Hoda, mother Gai and sister Kate.

After two weeks of criticism, former bookmaker Waterhouse makes no apologies for his latest social media marketing campaign in which the father-of-two – wearing a suit – is surrounded by a group of young women dressed in skimpy bikinis in a series of incongruous situations.

They look like used car ads from the 1970s, or even an old poster for Chiko rolls, and the messaging is as confused as the looks on the young women's faces.

"I rolled my eyes when I saw it and figured he's just trying to bait the usual suspects," said senior advertising creative and media commentator Jane Caro. "It all seemed a bit desperate to me."

In a previous journalistic life, I spent many years writing about marketing and advertising. Waterhouse is drawing on one of the oldest marketing tricks in the book: outrage. The strategy is to generate free publicity, which he believes – though many argue mistakenly so – will deliver greater impact than simply paying for airtime.

Proud mum: Gai Waterhouse and her son Tom.

What Waterhouse does not seem to consider or care about is the threat such outrage can pose to the Waterhouse brand – a reputation the family has long fought hard to protect and from which he has benefited enormously throughout his career.

In real life, Tom Waterhouse is a devoted father and husband, who respects his celebrity trainer mother Gai Waterhouse immensely, but has always presented himself as a straight-up-and-down kinda guy.

That image is in stark contrast to what we see in his new ads. Waterhouse told me he wanted to do something that would "get noticed" and stand out from all the "vanilla" posts on social media – presumably like the ones his sister Kate and sister-in-law Rey Vakilli share with their thousands of Instagram followers.

The photos caused confusion on social media.

But Kate and Rey make no pretence about being anything but fashion plates when it comes to social media, a role they play incredibly well and without a hint of anything remotely scandalous.

Tom Waterhouse's dilemma is simple: his posts, co-created with his mate and male model Jason Dundas, are just not very clever – let alone funny. In 2021, men objectifying women for a hoot is about as hilarious as an old Paul Hogan skit with canned laughter.

Waterhouse defended the shoot as a bit of fun.

Critics have labelled the campaign everything from "sexist" and "offensive" to "foolish" and "egotistical".

On the surface Waterhouse appears to be relishing in the condemnation, gleefully sharing the campaign's most damning critics' comments on his own social media platforms, presumably believing all publicity is good publicity.

And yet reputation is something the Waterhouses have fiercely protected for generations, even as the family weathered some of the biggest scandals in racing history. It's no secret the Waterhouses are not afraid to call in the lawyers when they are unhappy with their portrayal in the media.

So why open yourself up to criticism with such off-key marketing? "We're just trying to mix things up a bit, it's a pun on a joke ... taking the piss," he told me.

There's a term used in the marketing world called "news-jacking", which is essentially the act of leveraging big news stories that generate community debate to draw eyes to your brand.

In theory it seems to make perfect sense: capture the zeitgeist and piggy-back on all the interest surrounding a particular issue to maximise your brand awareness for very little cost.

In reality the results can be pretty mixed, like when Kendall Jenner unleashed the fury of millions and was accused of trivialising the Black Lives Matter movement after starring in a Pepsi commercial set amid a fake political protest.

Pepsi quickly withdrew the ad when it went down like a lead balloon, while Jenner took a heavy blow to her celebrity stocks.

Liberal MPs Tim Wilson (left) and Andrew Hastie (right) debated marriage equality a segment while drinking Coopers Light.

Four years ago, Coopers Brewery faced pub boycotts and was forced to apologise after it produced Bible Society commemorative cans and participated in a political marketing stunt in which Liberal MPs Tim Wilson and Andrew Hastie debated marriage equality, agreeing to disagree "in a civil and respectful way".

Someone had forgotten that gays – and their friends – drink beer too. Time will tell if Waterhouse has also forgotten that women are more than pretty props. Some even like to bet on horses.

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