No zombies from me! Making a new thread out of an old idea…
TV, radio, internet, print, etc… Doesn’t matter what medium. What ad caused you to think something else entirely from what the ad was actually promoting?
Just now happened to me:
Saw an ad banner on a (trusted) site that said “Cut the cords with a digital tuner”
My mind went straight to guitars because I saw “cords” as chords. I was disappointed to not find a digital guitar tuner on the click thru. Oh well, at least they got $0.00375 out of my action.
Watching the World Cup I have seen several ads of the formula:
A. Heart warming story about people doing things
B. Logo for a car company.
Or
A. Exploit an internet meme by showing silly images.
B. Logo for a car company.
And there is not even an attempt to connect A to B.
The one that comes to mind is some couple having a baby or something, all the action takes place inside a house without even discussion of driving or anything, and the last 3 seconds show a Volkswagen parked outside.
The Cleveland Indians are always collecting “used gloves for local ball players” - a charity drive to benefit local little leagues. But for some reason I always ALWAYS immediately think of “local ball players” as the Indians themselves (and minor leaguers). And my mind can’t figure out for a split second why on earth these grown men with large salaries need me to donate baseball gloves to them.
I actually heard one version of the pitch this year with “local youth ball players,” but not the one they regularly play - made me think that someone else found it confusing too.
This isn’t exactly what you meant, but Quiznos(? some sub company) had a series of ads featuring some deformed rats making their sandwiches. And I was creeped out enough by it that I stopped going there for a while. Really–who wants to associate their food with disgusting (as opposed to cute, anthropomorphic) rats?
They don’t need to any more. Advertising is no longer about selling a product; it’s about prodding the mass of marketing information you’ve already absorbed. A blurry shot of a car racing past and a marque logo are enough to make you go “Ooh, ________” whether the blank is Mustang or Vette or 3-Series or Porsche or whatever.
Most TV and print ads are the real-world descendant of the old
S E X !
Now that I’ve got your attention…
ad parodies that were once so funny. Anything to grab your attention and make you feel good, then poke the sales button.
Poke the button enough times, cookie. I mean, sale.