Yeah, and it gets on my nerves.
Mrs. Furd and I flop out on the couch for a rare evening of TV. A commercial comes on, and Mrs. Furd gets up to do something. She comes back, looks down, and says “Been watching the commercials again?” I can’t deny the evidence, so I just nod my head and she laughs - and then complains that German guys just aren’t that sensitive to visual stimulus.
I have to weigh in from personal experience that it takes a very witty ad just to get me to take notice, period, much lkess buy their product. I am an advertiser’s worst nightmare - no product loyalty, period (I don’t even notice what brands I pick out to buy. Usually, whatever is cheapest or closest, unless some product sucked last time). I have no idea what brand clothes I wear. I find most comericals annoying and forgettable, which seems to be why they are getting more and more annoying. I despise commercials that turn up the volume. I despise commercials that feature a lot of “trendy” and “cool” phrases or ideas thrown in.
On the other hand, there is a chance I will remember a comical and witty ad. I may not know what the product was, but Ill remember the ad. 
Here’s one:
- (For some pizza company) Radio:
A: He, does anyone want this pizza crust?
B: Oh I’ll take it fo Scout (dog name, for those not in the know) here Scout! Food Boy!
Whooshing Sound
Klunck!
B: (Worried tone) Scout?
(Later on, after the “crunchy” info about the product)
B: (Almost crying) Roll over boy?!
“What I have noticed lately is a sharp increase in the number of male-bashing ads. Dumb husband, dumb boyfriend, that sort of thing … if gender roles were reversed, you know women’s groups would be outraged.”
Anyone remember that (I think it was for Nike? Maybe another shoe company) commercial with Michael Jordan? There was a girl playing him in all sorts of different sports singing, “Anything you can do, I can do better.” Imagine if there was some average-joe-guy singing that line to a top female athlete and they made a commercial out of that. There company would be destroyed!
I find the advertisements for Jesus to be particularly amusing. Got Jesus? :rolleyes:
"Well, you remembered the ads, which is the best the marketers could hope for. "
That’s true, but I haven’t been to McDonalds for 3 years and don’t intend to go their again. Not particularly because of their commercial, but when I went there last time I thought it was awful. Now, I have no urge to go back unless maybe they gave me a reason to, and a dancing salad isn’t one.
I must admit, a couple commercials for Nike and Reebok I liked (Reebok Commercial? They show a real video of a guy surfing a 50ft wave during a hurricaine. It looks like the wave devours him and then you see him come flying out of it at the end and the guy making home video starts cheering. ) Although I enjoyed this commercial, I can’t say I have any urge to get their shoes. I think I’m wearing random name shoes from Payless at the moment.
That wasn’t Michael Jordan and some random woman, that was Michael Jordan and Mia Hamm. You know, the soccer player, from the U.S. Women’s team that won the World Cup? Not quite the situation you’re describing.
Oops, sorry about that. Thanks for the straight dope.
I think you expect too much from advertising. After all, they aren’t trying to do anything other than sell more products and services. If it seems like commercials are pandering to the lowest common denominator of American tastes…it’s because they are: the LCD are the people who buy all the stuff and are more likely to be cowed into buying things because of the pomp and flash on television.
As for commercials that don’t seem to actually be “selling” a product…I think it depends. Some companies, like McDonald’s and Coke, don’t need to introduce or give much detail about their product(s). Everyone knows what Coke looks and tastes like, so detail beyond “it tastes good” is pretty moot. What they do, instead, is keep their name in your head through catchy production numbers, computer graphics, and contests. Other times, they have commercials that tell a little story that revolves around their products so they can illicit an emotional response from the viewer. The latter kind of commercial is exactly what worked so well for long distance companies…making you think about how long it’s been since you last called Grandma with the ultimate goal of using their service.
The funny thing about commercials is that they seem to work. If they didn’t work so well, no one would use them. They must be doing something right, cheap and pandering as it might be. =}
Remember how, a few years ago, Benetton did a series of stupid, offensive ads featuring criminals on death rows in U.S. prisons?
Now, on a purely practical level, I think most of us can agree that such ads were of NO value whatever in selling Benetton clothes. In fact, veteran advertising executive Jerry della Femina wrote a scathing essay in the Wall Street Journal making that very point, that Benetton’s ads not only didn’t help sales, they actually HURT Benetton’s bottom line. Della Femina went on to riducule the idiots who conceived the ad campaign.
Just a few days later, the head of the ad agency in question wrote a lengthy letter in reply to della Femina’s piece. This gentleman explained, smugly and seriously, that della Femina was hopelessly behind the times, and didn’t seem to understand that (I’m NOT joking!) the purpose of advertsing was to make an artistic statement, and that increasing Benetton’s sales were not his concern… and if della Femina didn’t grasp that, well, that just showed what an old fuddy duddy della Femina was!
**
Tom Wolfe showed, in “From Bauhaus to Our House,” how rich American executives regularly let snooty European architects bully them into buying ugly, unfunctional buildings. As I read that letter, I began to see that architecture was not the only field in which artsy-fartsy imbeciles were able to bamboozle rich executives! Benetton paid a fortune to run ads that didn’t help their sales, that actually HURT their sales, but Benetton’s execs weren’t ashamed or embarrassed by their stupidity! Rather, they were PROUD to be hip and cutting edge! They’d rather be perceived as cool by their ad agency than sell a lot of clothes and make a lot of money!
So, when you see an ad that makes no sense, remember: the ad agency is staffed by art-school dropouts who have no business sense, but plenty of attitude. They’ve managed to convince their employers that attitude is everything. These days, even the most crass, money-grubbing CEO is driven as much by a desire to be admired than to increase sales.
The flashing waves, the colorful arrows, the effervescent bubbles.
I would just like to see a synopsis of the chemical effects of products, detailed diagrams of shoes and other complex clothing, and a list of sweet features for cars.
(P.S. These CAN be dumbed down so as not to confuse the masses, but please, less smiles, more good stuff.)
And I don’t want to see people fumbling like drunk retards with regular products before they show me how innovative their product is. If it were really more useful than the regular product, it would eventually become the standard.
I really think advertisers are getting worse because todays products aren’t more than marginally better than their predecessors. And the products that are fantastic are made by people who sit around and think good stuff up, not people who can (or will!) come up with marketing strategies, so they follow the formula laid out to them.
I DO think that commercials are slowly dumbing down the millions who rely on T.V. for their information. Heaven help us if T.V. doesn’t fade away soon. I, the consumer, don’t feel like being talked to like a small, naive child anymore!
The flashing waves, the colorful arrows, the effervescent bubbles.
I would just like to see a synopsis of the chemical effects of products, detailed diagrams of shoes and other complex clothing, and a list of sweet features for cars.
(P.S. These CAN be dumbed down so as not to confuse the masses, but please, less smiles, more good stuff.)
And I don’t want to see people fumbling like drunk retards with regular products before they show me how innovative their product is. If it were really more useful than the regular product, it would eventually become the standard.
I really think advertisers are getting worse because todays products aren’t more than marginally better than their predecessors. And the products that are fantastic are made by people who sit around and think good stuff up, not people who can (or will!) come up with marketing strategies, so they follow the formula laid out to them.
I DO think that commercials are slowly dumbing down the millions who rely on T.V. for their information. Heaven help us if T.V. doesn’t fade away soon. I, the consumer, don’t feel like being talked to like a small, naive child anymore.
Sorry
Then there’s the other end of the spectrum: Nothing but information, no presentation. Imagine if all commercials starred Billy Mays and that Riddler wanna-be…
“HEY! Billy Mays here for Levi’s Jeans! Levi’s Jeans are made from the finest cotton, pressed and woven into the strongest denim available!”