This one just makes me think of a bunch of monkeys smashing keyboards in a boardroom. Flonase has an advert for their product (Flonase) that is based upon the notion (medical facts irrelevant here) that preventing production of six allergen-reactive chemicals is better than the standard found in most allergy relief medication, just antihistamines. This may be true, and I think making that point would be important, but focusing the entire commercial on the slogan "Six is greater than one... this changes everything!" makes it comical, at best.
We know, six is greater than one; And no... this changes absolutely nothing. In fact, it maintains pretty much all mathematical formulas that aren't wrong in the first place. The expression "6>1" may come as a surprise to a toddler, or a small animal, but they can't purchase nasal spray. Even if they could, having math on a package (I'm assuming it's on the box, but I don't know) or as the primary point of an advert would likely turn away most children; and many small animals wouldn't be able, or willing, to use the product for it's intended purpose.
I hope that this isn't surprising to anyone, as that would make me very disappointed in the level of education here. I also hope that, although it appears this way in many cases, large companies and advertising firms aren't tossing around millions of dollars thinking that they have produced something magnificent for the world of marketing when it (the advert) does nothing more than proclaim an expression known by almost everyone who can count as high as six with a "Eureka!"-type proclamation.
Fire the whole team; this is absurd. If anyone thinks that using such simplistic statements to pander to idiots is any better than manipulating people's emotions in order to buy their mediocre product with big, colorful prints and a sub-human, holier-than-thou, celebrity endorsing the same, then you are certainly a jackass. [edit: you're probably a jackass]
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
For all the 'Nevers' in Life (Statefarm)
So here's an advertisement that really makes me wonder what capacity marketing teams have for logic. You've likely seen the advert that goes something like this:
Man, poolside, to friends: [Checks out women by the pool] "I'm never getting married".
[Shows him getting married]
Couple, on plane: "We're never having kids".
[Shows wife in labor]
Couple, at dinner table in downtown apartment: (To child) "You're never moving to the suburbs".
[They move to suburbs]
Husband, to wife: [Watches minivan drive by] "We're never getting one of those".
[They get one]
Husband, to wife: "[No more kids...]".
Wife: "I'm Pregnant".
Then, after all these 'never' scenarios, the family is seen on the couch, the husband watching TV; The wife and kids are asleep in his arms. He looks at his family and says:
"I'm never letting go."
Now obviously, this was intended to be an emotional, sentimental, statement; It was intended to mean exactly what was said (hopefully). However, as all previous examples show, every time he says something will never happen, that something does indeed happen. Surely, in life, over a long period of time, people say 'never' but then that 'never' happens, and as is demonstrated in this advert, it's typically naivety giving way to reality in a beautiful, happy, way, even if retrospectively. Unfortunately, when you condense all of these events so closely (as in a time-lapsed advert) it simply gives the appearance of opposition to the man's desires. Therefore, when he says "I'm never letting go." it implies that, given all previous examples, he truly means, expects, or anticipates the opposite.
In summation, he says "This'll never happen" and then it happens. He says "I'm never letting go" and no scene follows, but it's implied that he would, in fact, 'let go'. The pattern is pretty clear, and is the entire point of the advert. Excuse the dark scenario but StateFarm would certainly 'be there' if the husband committed suicide in order to complete the "'never', then happens" cycle. I'm sure some people will see the positive message the commercial conveys along with the different severity of the use of the word "never", but it doesn't take much reading into to see how macabre the logic used in the advert can be interpreted to be.
Man, poolside, to friends: [Checks out women by the pool] "I'm never getting married".
[Shows him getting married]
Couple, on plane: "We're never having kids".
[Shows wife in labor]
Couple, at dinner table in downtown apartment: (To child) "You're never moving to the suburbs".
[They move to suburbs]
Husband, to wife: [Watches minivan drive by] "We're never getting one of those".
[They get one]
Husband, to wife: "[No more kids...]".
Wife: "I'm Pregnant".
Then, after all these 'never' scenarios, the family is seen on the couch, the husband watching TV; The wife and kids are asleep in his arms. He looks at his family and says:
"I'm never letting go."
Now obviously, this was intended to be an emotional, sentimental, statement; It was intended to mean exactly what was said (hopefully). However, as all previous examples show, every time he says something will never happen, that something does indeed happen. Surely, in life, over a long period of time, people say 'never' but then that 'never' happens, and as is demonstrated in this advert, it's typically naivety giving way to reality in a beautiful, happy, way, even if retrospectively. Unfortunately, when you condense all of these events so closely (as in a time-lapsed advert) it simply gives the appearance of opposition to the man's desires. Therefore, when he says "I'm never letting go." it implies that, given all previous examples, he truly means, expects, or anticipates the opposite.
In summation, he says "This'll never happen" and then it happens. He says "I'm never letting go" and no scene follows, but it's implied that he would, in fact, 'let go'. The pattern is pretty clear, and is the entire point of the advert. Excuse the dark scenario but StateFarm would certainly 'be there' if the husband committed suicide in order to complete the "'never', then happens" cycle. I'm sure some people will see the positive message the commercial conveys along with the different severity of the use of the word "never", but it doesn't take much reading into to see how macabre the logic used in the advert can be interpreted to be.
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