WTF are the Citi Rewards commercials trying to say?

Cafe Society
1

I’m talking about those commercials where character #1 says “Thank You” as a total non-sequiter response to character #2’s comment. Despite the completely inappropriate nature of the resonse, character #2 gets all warm and fuzzy with #1, and they achieve some small social intimacy. Then there’s some universal warm and fuzzy statement about how nice it is to be thanked, followed by some mention of the latest Citi Rewards program to their customers.

I can’t help but read this campaign as saying, “You people are such friggin idiots that we don’t need to answer legitimate questions, and you love appeals to your egos, so we’re saying “thanks” to give you a liitle rush and distract you from uglier details like your interest rate.”.

I’m wondering if my cynic genes have boiled over and there is a more positive spin to this, but you know how, once you see a thing one way, it’s very difficult to look at it in another way.

2

Sometimes, the intended result of a commercial campaign which seems to make no sense is exactly this: to get people thinking about it long after the commercial is over, and discussing it with their friends. In a world choked with advertising, to make your commercial stand out is truly difficult. The ad accomplished its goal: it made an impression on you and has got you curious. Maybe you’ll call Citi to ask them about the program, and maybe they’ll be able to reel you in as a customer

Effective ads are not always those which were liked, but those in which the viewer remembered the advertiser’s name.