I saw one the other day talking about a guy who has never missed a Superbowl. He brags that he’ll shrug off any other social engagement–weddings, babies being born, etc.–to go to a game. I can’t remember what the commercial is about, but I kept thinking to myself, “Substitute any other activity in there and I’ll bet lots of people would think that was asshole-ish, or at best silly.” (I don’t have much experience with weddings and none for babies being born, so maybe I’d feel differently if I were getting invitations right and left).
I think we all need to realize that marketing is a science (or, at least that is the claim of the department upstairs from me who has a professor with two endowed professorships and five books to his name). There is a whole scholarly field devoted to it, with thousands of journal pages written to date. Marketers, for the most part, know how to manipulate people into buying their products. There’s too much money invested in these commercials for them to be shots in the dark. Cell phone companies, as an example, know their customers–their habits, their mindset, their desires. Sure, there are always going to be people who say, “Well, I’m not like that,” but that’s true of any situation. There’s never exactly 100% uniformity on anything, but if you have even 6 or 7/10 customers pegged right, you can probably make money with your advertising.
I’ve been on the inside of a major cell phone company. My two cents is that they don’t know who their customers are; they know who they want them to be, and the ads and promos are tailored to that end. Case in point, the vast majority of their customers are scared and baffled by “data”. They don’t know what it is, and they don’t want to be charged for it. A smaller percentage still don’t understand texting. The company has nevertheless been on a huge drive to put a smartphone in every customer’s hand. Clearly it will make them money, and they’re of course banking that once you see what your phone can do, you won’t go back to your old clamshell. So the company is attempting to create desire where there is none, and completely disregarding their customers’ mindset. Not that that is anything new.
Which is kind of funny, because I’m a nerd, I grok the whole smartphone concept, I even had a Blackberry for a year or so and loved it.
Probably not getting a smartphone again for a while, since it makes more sense to me to get a cheap phone that just does phone stuff and texting, and an iPod Touch to do all the data stuff whenever I get to Wifi hotspots without paying for it every month. I’m a geek, it’s not like I look at myself in the morning and think “I dunno man, do you think we could have FEWER gadgets on us today?” Having two hand-held electronic gadgets instead of one super gadget doesn’t bug me.
Several years ago, I got a PDA to go with my cell phone. The phone was just a phone - I didn’t even text. The PDA was supposed to be for taking notes, calendar, schedule and planning, etc. I found that I didn’t use it much, and it was an extra gizmo to carry around and keep up with, and have to synch to the computer, recharge, etc. Stopped using it.
I have migrated to the smart phone because it has more capability than the PDA and does it in one package with the phone. I’m still not a heavy app user, but texting has become more common (receiving and certain people preferring them), and I’m learning to use the navigation feature, which is pretty nice. So for me, having fewer more capable gadgets does make sense. And I’m not even the prime market - tied in to email and daily planner and extensive internet use. I’ve tried it a bit, and it’s filled time in a pinch, but I’m not particularly thrilled with phone web interfaces.
The one dork (with the model airplane) even shows his kid how to torment Sasquatch, which reminds me of that Onion story “Area asshole proud of asshole son.”
And yet, they make me laugh. (At least the first time I see them, and sometimes the second.) And I remember them, and I’m damned if I remember any other jerky commercial, ever.
But I still don’t eat beef jerky, so I guess it doesn’t matter.
Sounds like you guys who like the Mayhem guy from the Allstate commercials don’t recognize him. Weird for me, b/c the first time I saw him I thought he was slumming it by doing a commercial.
Off the top of my head, he was a regular in Law & Order: SVU, Oz, and Rescue Me, also several appearances as Liz Lemon’s boyfriend in 30 Rock.
Honestly, my big problem with smart phones is having to buy the data plan. I’d like to have the option to just have the unlimited texting and the few hundred minutes, and limit the actual data usage to wifi. I can wait that long to check my email, it’s only to the next Starbucks on the corner.
Yes. THIS guy. He makes me want to kick something. I always wonder if he’s a paid actor (and if so, did they make him look douchey on purpose?) or if he’s really a guy who thinks people call him “Mr. Excitement” and who has “no intention of ever missing a superbowl. EVER.” I love football more than I think is probably healthy, but this guy is an asshat.
Every Sunfire commercial ever made. Built for drivers indeed.
What they really mean is Built for twats that can only afford a $13K crap-box with a shitty 4 cylinder engine but want to feel ‘cool’ so they drive like ignorant fucks.
I think that whole campaign is a big whoosh as you can’t just buy tickets to the Super Bowl and getting in to even one is considered extremely difficult unless you’re insanely rich.
But a group of middle-class guys who represent “real football fans”? They might have gotten into one, but they’d never get into two, let alone all 40+.
It’s not THAT difficult. Even pre-internet, ticket brokers were buying up and reselling them from season ticket holders. As for the expense, if these douches are going to pride themselves on missing weddings and babies being born, they are exactly the sort to spend too much money on a hobby.
Oh, I recognized Dean Winters (the actor in question) before he did those Mayhem commercials, acted in TV shows. I just thought he executed the premise exceedingly well.
