A QUESTION ABOUT QUESTIONABLE ADVERTISING

Hey, Irish. Having done advertising for both radio and TV for many years, I find that anything that detracts from the PRODUCT being touted is poor whether it be a handsome dude or a provocative lady.

Yes, it's effective but not how the ad people expected. It helps me to avoid any product that makes me so replused.

A very good point. There is another ad i've frequently seen online--or rather, i should say a picture used in ads--which shows a woman in a skimpy bikini wading in waist-deep water. I've seen the image used in several different ads, none of which were concerned with swimming, the beach, swim suits--or anything which could be remotely construed from the image.

I take it you mean repulsed by the sexual inference?

ok...that.

I have carefully trained myself to be oblivious to ads, except when I am searching for something specific. Watching TV, I may look at the pretty girl in an ad, but thanks to my selective attention I generally have no idea what product is being pushed.

The goal should be to remember the PRODUCT.

So I dislike any kind of distraction that takes away from that. I don't like the "in your face" or the subtle.

The best comment to judge marketing should be: "Did you see the _____ ad where the guy ______...."

My dad always said that the purpose of any advertising was to inform, entertain or offend and that you should look at every ad with that in mind. If an ad makes you look long enough to find out what they're selling then the advertiser has done their job well.

Your post reminded me of an ad I'd seen discussed on copyranter a little while ago:



The fact that I remember it tells me it was probably a pretty effective ad.

I'm not really offended by busty babes appearing in an ad any more than I am by anorexic, airbrushed 20 year olds being used to sell me moisturizers.

I'd imagine this kind of advertising would be effective if they were selling sex....

I'd also imagine depending what you are trying to sell and who your target audience was. For example on the Spike channel, I'd imagine this would be effective for their target audience - whereas on PBS kids - not so much.

And depending on what they are trying to sell - it would turn me off their product.

Whats with the eating of that huge sandwich?

That's not sexy - funny though

I was interested in commercials as a kid, and not just because my father worked in that field for a while. I toyed with it as a possibility for what I might do when I grew up. Then I read the Hidden Pursuaders, by Vance Packard. Don't remember it much, except that it turned me off of it being a worthy sort of career. Such an idealist then.. Now I'm not as blanket against it as a career that has a useful component - am more selective about what I find obnoxious.

In the meantime, even when I was most against advertising, I still liked commercials that seemed clever to me, and still do now. Not sure that has ever made me buy - say, Marlboros, because of the herding cats commercial, or a VW, because of a certain old ad.

The commercial that still comes to mind as the most obnoxious for me was one that kept repeating, over and over, Anacin! Anacin! Fast fast fast relief! Loathsome. But, it must have worked to make the pill name stick in people's minds in the drugstore aisle.

Have I bought things because of ads? Probably, re name recognition, but I'm not sure how much since I've tended to buy from hearing or reading opinions by those in the know/reviews - Bang and Olufsen when I got a turntable, Sony when I wanted a tv, Toyota when I wanted a car that worked, back then. Food purchases - all based on my own developing tastes. Restaurants to go to? All based on reviews and checking them out. Movies? not from ads but from my own knowing about who was director (etc), type of movie, often but not always from reviews. Ms. Picky.

Never would I choose a real estate agent because of a smiling bookshelf ad - I'd tend to doubt the professionalism of the firm.. besides that the looks of an agent aren't high on my criteria.

This was an ad for how roomy the new Ford Focus is, and how many people can comfortably fit inside. SO whats yer point?

SCuse me, I gotta run out and buy a Ford Focus

The only ads I enjoy are based on cute, clever dogs and their antics.

BBB

Not everyone realizes that advertising agencies actually employ psychologists, sociologists and social anthropologists to help them analyze how to persuade a consumer to buy something. Studies are carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of various gimmicks to promote a product.

Correct. It's easy to claim that one is not influenced by advertising, but that is "top of mind" thinking. Advertising frequently does not aim for top of mind recognition. Whether one realizes its impact or approves of the message, an impact is nevertheless made. Sales statistics provide the proof.

A good friend of mine who owned a chain of Mexican restaurants put it this way once. This is one of the most pragmatic explanations I've heard.

"I've worked with all the best agencies in the region, and I've heard all the reasonings for why advertising works, and I still don't know how much of it is smoke and mirrors. But what I do know is this. On any given Saturday night there will be a group of people sitting around, and someone is going to say, 'Let's go eat Mexican!' And if I haven't been advertising, it's my competitor's name that's going to pop into their minds. I want them to think of my restaurants first."

Of course, it depends on the market, Eva. If we're talking Madison Ave. that's another thing. Mine were mostly for local folks and politicians.

So when i turn off the radio or the teevee within two or three seconds, how far into my "bottom" mind have they gotten? I can assure you that although ads may appeal to most people, i am not only one i know who doesn't pay them any attention, nor buy their products. The last time i was motivated in that manner was the other night when out walking the little doggies, and we stopped by a neighbor's house . . . just after he had had a pizza delivered, you could smell it . . . that ad worked.

By the way, the experts which ad agencies employ, and the agencies in dealing with their customers are never going to suggest either that they are not offering effective services, nor that they don't know if it will work or not. Sure they say it works, and sure they bring out all the bells and whistles to suggest that it's an expert opinion.