TV Ads SUCK!
- September 04, 2003
- 4 comments
I sat down to write a rant about how much I hate television ads, but decided to check if I had already written about it. Well I have, and it was almost a year ago that I wrote about it. Some of the ads I ranted about back then are still on the air! I summed it up really well, but I’ve got to add a few more things with this post.
I still hate ads so much I mute the TV and either walk out of the room or close my eyes when they come on. Just about all of them are poorly thought out, insulting or downright stupid.
One of the ad styles I abhor right now is the “stock-car-sounds-like-indy-car” style. I’ve lost count of how many different car companies have fallen for this stupid gimmick. I’m sure you’ve seen at least a couple of them. The ad usually starts with a shot of the car from the outside, on a nice, curvy road. The car sounds like it’s red-lining while it’s being pushed to the limit by its Michael Schumacher wanna-be driver. Switch to the interior, showing the driver throwing it into 4th or whatever, and again hearing the engine go near the red line.
Who in the world drives like this? I have a very nice Prelude which actually can sound like a race car if I rev it that high, but I don’t do it often. You will destroy your car within one year if you drive like that. Maybe that’s part of the subtle psychology in the ad? They want you to drive like a bat out of hell, knowing your car will break down and you’ll have to come in for repairs! Aha!
There’s another retarded cousin to this style which shows the driver of the car careening through downtown or in a salt flat, doing e-brake turns, donuts, fish-tails, etc. Yeah… I’d like to see someone try that in downtown LA or Dallas. And who drives their car on a salt flat? Don’t show me the stupid car doing things I’ll never do in it or being driven like an F1 racer without telling me why I should buy the car. Like I said in my earlier post, trying to pitch a crappy product without telling me why it’s good is insulting.
I think the “creative” (I use that term loosely) directors who come up with these ads should be fired. The marketing dorks behind them should also be fired.
I wish there was some way there could be instant viewer feedback on an ad. There would be two new buttons on your remote that allow you to rate an ad. It either sucks or not. That way ad companies would know what works and what doesn’t without going through loser marketers and pollsters. They would save money because of this too. On top of that, if an ad reaches a certain number of “suck” clicks, it will no longer be shown. Ever. This will force companies who consistantly make crap ads to either get better or go out of business.
Another idea I thought of was allowing you to freeze a frame in an ad so you can do fun things with it. You could use a special remote or pen to deform the annoying person in the ad. Draw nose hairs, moustaches, etc. Or you could have two virtual boxing gloves show up on your screen. You could use your remote to “punch” the annoying person. And wherever you punch it deforms the picture a bit. This would be MUCH more entertaining than the ad by itself.
What do you think of those ideas? Am I the only one who hates ads this much?
Chris
Russ
Looks like this is the “2nd Annual Chris Ruzin TV Ad Rant”
I don’t watch nearly enough TV to be aware of the ads that are playing. About all I watch are CNN, the History Channel, A&E, etc. And I don’t actually sit in front of the TV anymore either. It’s just something that is noise in the background while I am working.
If I do notice the ads at all, they are mostly debt relief offers, or learning courses from the Video Professor. He teaches you how to use Windows products on your PC. How stupid is that? I would much rather learn how to race across the salt flats or spin donuts downtown during rush hour.