A copywriter is a creative person who usually works together with the other creative - the art director. They together come up with the campaign idea. In theory the copywriter is responsible for the textual content and the art director for the visual part, but most of the time this is not followed. They both come up with words and imagery.

As far as I know in the US copywriters are usually the brains of the campaign and art directors are less involved in conceptualizing. Correct me if I'm wrong. In the Middle East however it's the other way around, so it's highly likely that the campaign you are talking about is probably the brain child of an art director.

The concept of mommy didn't buy you something, therefore mommy doesn't love you works very well with kids. It's highly unethical though. But, this works for kid's products and chicken is not such a product. I think it may work for some adults, but most of them will react the same way as you did and reject the whole idea. I don't think it does any good to the brand. On the other hand if people talk about the campaign, even if in a negative context, it's good for the brand in long term, since any publicity is good.

Vaguely related - whatever you do don't eat KFC. :)

Good chicken ad! :D

Copy writers have lost more and more control over ads in the last 20 years. The only place they really have any real control is in direct marketing. This is one of the reasons advertising has become less and less affective.

The approach of accessing a mother's guilt over not loving her children is a effective selling angle (women who feel pressured to be super moms and hold down a full-time job) but this one comes across as too blatant.

There's a local family style chicken restaurant, just run by a family here in town. They recently started a radio campaign with the tagline "Food so good you'll think we stole your mom." It seems so ominous, like it's a threat, but it makes me laugh every time I hear it.

Wow... Those are simply ridiculous.

ew. Know.

Aspercream™ is a topical pain-relief ointment.

Presently running is a TV advert with a short little jingle that plays 3 or 4 times in 30 seconds, right after the commercial's voiceover asks questions like:
"Will it relieve the pain from arthritis?"

Then the jingle plays in response:
"...Bet your sweet Ass......percream!"

I have to wonder if some ad agency offered this concept as a bit of a joke. I'm surprised it made it on the air, considering how tight-assed companies are these days about offending people.

I thought the Aspercreme commercials are hilarious, but I like those kind of subversive things.

Actually, there are a lot more people involved in a advertising/marketing campaign than just a copywriter and an ad director. It starts with the company itself who will have anywhere 1 to 20 people in their marketign/PR department and these people in consultation with the company's executives will set the overall messaging direction that the ad agency or PR agency will use to create a campaign around. In this chicken example, the idea of associating high quality chicken with the love and work of a mother probably came in a very broad form from the client. The ad agency, whose team is usually about 4-5 people depending on the size of the agnecy and the account, would then take those broad messaging points or attributes the company wants to promote and develop the contents and specifics of the ad itself. There were probably 15 people who were involved in coming up with the concept, putting it into a usable form and then approving all of it. SO who is to blame for the bad chicken ad...ultimately, all bad ads have to be blamed on the comapny who paid for them, because the final say is theirs alone.