Bon-bon-bon-bon-SHUT-THE-FUCK-UP!!

The Bon Marche (“The Bon”) has really done it now… they’ve convinced me to never set foot in their stores again!

Their ads are never masterpieces… the annual “DAY-O! One Day Sale-OH!” ads are dreaded with a passion, and their Christmas ads get more annoying every year. This year they’ve outdone themselves.

Close your eyes… no, open them again so you can read. Try to imagine this: The tune of “Ring Christmas Bells,” with each note sung as the word “Bon.”

AAAAAAAaaggghh! Jesus, how fucking brilliant… repeat your store name in song until it grates against the nerves like a boning knife raking across a chalkboard.

Then if that’s not enough, they play the song again on a different ad, inside of a minute! The three or four times I’ve seen these Bon ads this year, each time there have been two different ads (using the same annoying song) during the commercial break – sometimes even back to back!

FUCK OFF Bon Marche, and take your ads with you.

That is all.

The more annoying it is, and simple, including the store name, the more likely you are to remember it. I don’t have a firm cite for that, but I got that from an episode of Cheers, and that’s as reliable a source of information as there is IMHO.

Yeah, yeah, that’s the conventional wisdom behind this crap, I know. However, what they fail to take into account is that I may remember their name, but right now it is associated with such an irrational hatred of all things “Bon” that I’ll likely never shop there again.

Seconded. I violated one of my firm principles never to let an advertising campaign influence my purchases when I paid more rather than support Old Navy.

The key to succesfully using annoying advertising is to make it annoying enough that the name is remembered in the store but not so annoying as to burn the entire comercial into the brain of the consumer. When that happens people remember why they remember the name and decide that instead of buying the product to go on a rage filled murder spree.

So, why is it The Bon Marche? Shouldn’t it be Le Bon Marche?

Ahh seasonal Bon ads.

Anyone who lived in Seattle around 8 years ago remember when John from Almost Live did the voice overs for their ads?

Because the American public is too dumb to understand the full French title*. They’d probably think “Le Bon Marche” is some high school basketball prospect.

*Or, alternatively, the corporate bigwigs underestimate the intelligence of the average American

That’s nothing. Around here we have a car dealer whose entire radio ad campaign is comprised of bad puns. The first one was full of fish puns for some odd reason; I had to swipe off the headphones before I became physically ill.

Aaaaaaaaah! One of them just came on! It’s Don Beyer Volvo with the puns! I endured the ad so I could give some examples how bad they are. Lessee…I think I can boil it down to “If you visit our lodge showroom and buy a Volvo to parka in your driveway you’ll feel like a winter.” Of course their ads are much longer than one sentence and contain many more puns. Not only that, the guy they have sounds like a bad stand-up comic who’s trying to finish his entire act before getting booed off the stage. I’m pretty sure they now have one of these godawful ads for each holiday season but thankfully I can’t remember any.

That’s the same question I asked when I first moved here several years ago… “The Bon? What the fuck is wrong with this picture?” I believe those were my exact words.

I suspect rexnervous’ second answer (the one in fine print) is the right one.

Anybody else think from the thread title that this was going to be about that Pierre Passereau madrigal?

[sings]
Il est bel et bon, bon, bon, bon, bon, bon, bon, comm’ere,
Il est bel et bon, bon, bon, bon, bon, comm’ere, comm’ere, mon mari…
[can’t stop singing]

Thanks a bunch, Avalonian!

Good to see I’m not the only one who hates Old Navy ads.

Why should they trigger such visceral loathing? When will someone come out with a remote featuring a combination audio and video mute button?

Um, they already have one of those. It’s called the “off” button. :p:D

Yeah, but I don’t wanna power down and lose that critical 1.3 seconds.

Oh, and bite me.

But even if you weren’t powered down, how would you know the commercial was over? :slight_smile:

Me, I’m waiting for the remote with the button labeled “stab Morgan Fairchild in the eye with a garlic press.”

Apropos of nothing, I used to know the actor who sang the “Day O” ads (and appeared in them, years ago). His name was Greg. Good guy. Slightly embarrassed about the ad campaign.