Annoying Advertising Trends
Time to shoot some fish in a barrel.
There are two trends in advertising I noted lately that seem to be getting overused - even by advertising standards. The worst is these ads are annoying despite having the appearance of high dollar campaigns. Both are the illegitimate spawn of more entertaining executions and both suffer from the stench of lacking verisimilitude.
Of course, there is no horse in the advertising stable that hasn't been beaten to death long ago, but without further ado, I feel the creative departments of advertising firms need to let these two styles rest for a while.
The first is the fake guerrilla ad. This type of ad, often shot shakily, to give you the impression, "Hey, in all the excitement, we're just barely getting this footage!" I assume this particular beast is the spawn of the YouTube zeitgeist. A perfect example is the new Axe shampoo campaign:
If you're not real perceptive, you get the impression the Lever company unleashed a pig and a few shapely harridans on a mall to prove, in no uncertain terms, girls prefer clean hair. Well, thanks for that. Guess what? Guys prefer clean to dirty and smelly, too. I'm actually surprised the percentage isn't higher. The girls who like greasy, dandruff-ridden hair must be the daughters of that one dentist who refuses to recommend sugarless gum.
The other type of commercial is for more ubiquitous and, therefore, more annoying. The example I am including is from IBM, but you can see dozens of similar ads during any night of prime time television. It's the fast cut of multiple stereotypes speaking portions of the company slogan. I assume this is popular because the edits keep the viewer's interest while also allowing the company to cast as big a net as possible: both the little brown boy and one of NYC's finest want a better world - brought to you by IBM. Me, I'm on the floor in the throes of a grand mal seizure.
All I need to really want to open a vein is a little Brit boy whispering "Zoom Zoom" -- but kids whispering seems to have fallen out of favour lately. Unfortunately, the above templates are here for a while. Thank technology I DVR most everything and zip right through this crap -- although I also stop for Vince from Sham-Wow. No pretense; the man just wants to save us some money on paper towel. See, now that's compelling.
There are two trends in advertising I noted lately that seem to be getting overused - even by advertising standards. The worst is these ads are annoying despite having the appearance of high dollar campaigns. Both are the illegitimate spawn of more entertaining executions and both suffer from the stench of lacking verisimilitude.
Of course, there is no horse in the advertising stable that hasn't been beaten to death long ago, but without further ado, I feel the creative departments of advertising firms need to let these two styles rest for a while.
The first is the fake guerrilla ad. This type of ad, often shot shakily, to give you the impression, "Hey, in all the excitement, we're just barely getting this footage!" I assume this particular beast is the spawn of the YouTube zeitgeist. A perfect example is the new Axe shampoo campaign:
If you're not real perceptive, you get the impression the Lever company unleashed a pig and a few shapely harridans on a mall to prove, in no uncertain terms, girls prefer clean hair. Well, thanks for that. Guess what? Guys prefer clean to dirty and smelly, too. I'm actually surprised the percentage isn't higher. The girls who like greasy, dandruff-ridden hair must be the daughters of that one dentist who refuses to recommend sugarless gum.
The other type of commercial is for more ubiquitous and, therefore, more annoying. The example I am including is from IBM, but you can see dozens of similar ads during any night of prime time television. It's the fast cut of multiple stereotypes speaking portions of the company slogan. I assume this is popular because the edits keep the viewer's interest while also allowing the company to cast as big a net as possible: both the little brown boy and one of NYC's finest want a better world - brought to you by IBM. Me, I'm on the floor in the throes of a grand mal seizure.
All I need to really want to open a vein is a little Brit boy whispering "Zoom Zoom" -- but kids whispering seems to have fallen out of favour lately. Unfortunately, the above templates are here for a while. Thank technology I DVR most everything and zip right through this crap -- although I also stop for Vince from Sham-Wow. No pretense; the man just wants to save us some money on paper towel. See, now that's compelling.
posted by Darren Priest at
3:59 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home