Tuesday, February 27, 2007

TV Advertising

I was watching TV last night and finally snapped.

The cause was a series of ads that kept repeating the same information. This is the sort of thing I am talking about...

"I've been looking for cheaper car insurance."

"I got cheaper car insurance at flybynight.com and saved 40%!"

"Wow, I think I will try flybynight.com and see if I can save 40% too!"

See what I mean? Do they think we are that stupid?

The one that really made me snap, though, was one for a music store:


Starts with a blast of music that rapidly fades to an annoyingly low level.

"At Rip-Off-Records we have got the latest ground-breaking album from the One Hit Wonders: Gone by Christmas. Featuring the latest smash hit single, I Stole This Song From David Bowie And Hope Nobody Notices."

At this point the music blasts back, just as the singer sings the title of the song. AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!! I heard you the first time! And how can an album be "ground-breaking" when it sounds just like something I listened to when I was a teenager?

Oh, and I saw the album in a supermarket last week for £3 less than the "rock-bottom" price given in the ad.

Does marketing really consist of lying to a public that you think of as morons? Probably!

2 comments:

Stacy said...

LOL. I worked in advertising for 3 years.. the way it's viewed is not lying but disclaiming (is the exact phrase.) But its pretty much the same thing.

And the theory on repetitive commercials is to get that product stuck in your head. Several ways to do that. Annoy you, make you laugh, make you think..etc.

Annoying but true. I feel you pain though. I always hated that I wasn't doing something worth while at my job because a commercial I spent 3 hours on people use that time to go to the potty. You know. LOL If the commercial is really bad you can email the company. They hate when people are turned off their product by their ads.

Rock Chef said...

Thanks for the tip - I may just start sending emails to these companies!