Commercials
DiscoZombie
Join Date: 2003-08-05 Member: 18951Members
Join Date: 2003-08-05 Member: 18951Members
<div class="IPBDescription">do they work on you?</div> I can't stand commercials anymore. They've completely taken over TV. I wouldn't be surprised if adverts soon occupy more airtime than actual programming. Same goes with the radio. I quite simply won't watch commercial TV or listen to commercial radio anymore.
My question is this: has advertising ever sold you ANYTHING?
I don't believe I've ever bought a single thing because of advertising. People may say I'm only fooling myself -- that commercials probably affect me subconsciously -- but that's not the case. I'm really not much of a consumer; I don't buy much of anything. the only heavily advertised products I use often are soft drinks, and even in those I have no strong preference. I'd take a birch beer over a pepsi or coke anyday.
Do any of you buy things because you hear about them through advertising? What are your thoughts in general on the subject? I figure it's targetted at more ignorant people who believe everything they see rather than doing their own research and trusting statistics and consumer reports... it sucks that the rest of us have to sit through it, but I guess it pays for our otherwise free programming...
My question is this: has advertising ever sold you ANYTHING?
I don't believe I've ever bought a single thing because of advertising. People may say I'm only fooling myself -- that commercials probably affect me subconsciously -- but that's not the case. I'm really not much of a consumer; I don't buy much of anything. the only heavily advertised products I use often are soft drinks, and even in those I have no strong preference. I'd take a birch beer over a pepsi or coke anyday.
Do any of you buy things because you hear about them through advertising? What are your thoughts in general on the subject? I figure it's targetted at more ignorant people who believe everything they see rather than doing their own research and trusting statistics and consumer reports... it sucks that the rest of us have to sit through it, but I guess it pays for our otherwise free programming...
Comments
As for other stuff, like the McGriddles... well, it made me try one. Wasn't too great.... but I'm not one of those people who sees and ad and screams 'we have to get that!'.
Even if people are conciously aware of the fact that they are being told something they may not agree with, it does not make them immune to message.
When I was a kid toy commercials informed me about just about every toy I had. But those times are long gone and commercials have stopped working their voodoo on me since. I barely see any commercials for things I buy anyways...so that's not informing me about product advancements I already use...
Er wait...I bought one thing because of a commercial. A Mach 3 razor. But this was at the time in a young mans life when he first starts shaving and it's all cool to be doing so.
I basically don't watch network tv because a) the shows are terrible. b) the commercials are happening way to often and are pretty insulting and flat out lies.
What he said.
You can say it doesn't affect you, but it more likely does if you even sit through it. Advertisement gets the word out on a product. WTH is a McGriddles? Wouldn't know unless you saw it in an ad. Next time you go McDonald's you just might consider that new McGriddles.
Besides, some commercials are funny. Love that cat herding commercial.
"Only 50% of my advertising is effective. If only I knew which 50%"
Advertising isn't always there to make you buy something. If it establishes a brand knowledge in you, sometimes thats enough in the long term. You may choose that brand in future for (seemingly at the time) no apparant reason, but 6 months ago, a 20 second radio jingle told you the brand was trustworthy.....
*Apologies to my lecturer, it was one of the better course modules*
"Where's the beef?" "Tastes great! Less filling!" "This bud's for you!" Jared the fat guy that lost a lot of weight and now is getting rich doing commercials for Subway... look at how recognizable he is. Now the campaign features actors gazing into the sky asking "what would Jared do?" It's no mistake this seems awfully close to "what would Jesus do?" Cut to Jared sitting behind a desk dishing out information like it's the gospel truth, and the "dieting authority" image is now emblazoned on countless people's minds. Want to lose weight like millions of other Americans? Do what Jared does, eat at Subway. Somehow the regular exercise program Jared did to actually lose the weight isn't featured in their advertising. Today, when I order food at a restaurant and ask for a Coke, the waiter most often won't even stop to inform me they offer the Pepsi line of soft drinks; he knows when I said 'Coke' I meant the cola-flavored drink of whatever they carry. I say 'Kleenex' but I mean tissue paper. I say 'Band-Aid' but I mean bandage with a strip of adhesive tape. Advertising is responsible for changing the way I, and many other people, refer to products. Not by the name of the item actually being sold, but by its brand name.
Infomercials, channels dedicated to advertising (QVC,) advertising pop-ups across the Net, ads above urinals, ads galore in the stadium I paid $40 to get into, ads on my grocery receipts, people slapping ads on their cars for cash, ads, ads, ads, ads. It's 'ad' nauseum. But advertising works, it's as simple as that.
Want to learn more about it? There was a PBS documentary a while back called 'The Merchants of Cool.' It would behoove you to watch it and see how much advertisement is really in your life today.
DiscoZombie, the reason there is so much advertising nowadays is because of one fundamental flaw of capitalism: The tendency of overcapacity. Basically, in a capitalistic society, there are more things being produced than can be possibly consumed. The solution to this, of course, is to increase people's perceived want for a product. How do you achieve this? Advertising. Of course, the people may not necessarily have the money to purchase said product, and this is where credit comes in. Everything's carefully designed to make you want to buy stuff without realizing that it's making you do just that. Do you think it's a coincidence that America is the fattest nation in the world, as well as the nation that's most immersed in commercialism? Do you think people want to be fat? It's not a coincidence.
1. Adverts for new food products
2. Film trailers
When a fast food chain brings out a new product that sounds appealing, i certainly feel like trying it. Arguably, this desire isnt even created by the advert itself, but is simply a natural result of any new product being released. To give a perfect example, i have never seen an advertisment for vanilla coke. However simply off the name and the knowledge that it exists i felt like trying some. Now wether i continue buying this product is going to depend entirely on wether or not it tastes nice, but simply by bringing out a new variety of something i enjoy, you can pretty much guaruntee at least 1 sale to me.
Film trailers also have quite alot of influence, trailers can be impressive, and most do a very good job of pitching a film.
I'm not an especially active consumer, i don't feel like i need the electromatic blender with 8 switchable blades, which is probably why those are the only 2 types of ad that ever influence me. However, those 2 belong to a larger group of products which i feel benefit greatly from advertising. 1 off, low-cost consumable items. This is the only group of products where i can definately see and understand the benefits of advertising. The advert informs the viewer of a product they have yet to use, and makes it sound impressive. If this is a low cost item, there is then a very good chance the consumer would try that item purely off the strength of the advert.
I don't use a mach3, but i can understand how people would be influenced to buy one on the strength of the advert, particularly kids who are just starting to shave. The razor is a relatively cheap product, it certainly isnt the sort of product you'd research before hand to decide which would be the most sensible purchase. So faced with an aisle full of products, you're going to pick up whichever has been best advertised to you. The marketing works perfectly, infact i wouldn't be surprised if the whole marketing idea behind mach3 razors targeted kids specifically.
However, there are some forms of marketing that i simply can't get my head round. Would someone mind telling me which demographic is being influenced by the repeated advertisments for products that everyone and their dog has already used and fully evaluated? I'm talking about regular coke and regular pepsi, the products haven't changed in forever, there is no one anywhere that doesn't know what these drinks taste like. Why then, are we still seeing advertisments for them? There must be some people who are actually watching these adverts, and changing their purchasing decision based on how attractive the actors in the TV ads are, so who the hell are these idiots?
There are a few types of commercials that especially irritate me:
1) "Stupid Man, Clever Woman!"
2) Buying This Product Increases Your Sex Appeal!
3) We Will Flood You with Abstract Images
4) This Crowd Of Retards Endorses This Brand Or Product
<b>1) "Stupid Man, Clever Woman!"</b>
I don't know if some of these adverts are aired over in the states. Forgive me if you don't know the ones I mean.
An example of this is the Homebase adverts, featuring that guy from <i>Men Behaving Badly</i>. The gawky scarecrow one, not the one who actually has an acting career. The Ask Jeeves ad going around fits into it as well. The Man is, basically, mentally retarded, and we all know how funny mentally retarded people are. If he's not jamming his fingers into electrical outlets or carpeting over the dog, he's placing a cup of hot coffee pracariously in his car after the insurance agency cleaned it out. Nice going, moron. The Clever Woman is there to roll her eyes and look savvy. I think they're meant to be vaguely funny, but it's hard to tell. This type of advert is the "politically correct" version of "Stupid Woman, Clever Man". God, I hate commercials.
<b>2) Buying This Product Increases Your Sex Appeal!</b>
Utterly, utterly stupid. I'm sorry, but you're just never going to convince me that I can seduce people by breathing on them. Not even with the minty freshness that your chewing gum provides.
<b>3) We Will Flood You with Abstract Images</b>
Yeah, random images shown with opera playing in the background is really going to convince me to shell out for a new car. Thanks for being so condescending as to believe that you can confuse me into spending huge quantities of money. At least this type is dying out.
<b>4) This Crowd Of Retards Endorses This Brand Or Product</b>
I hate Jamie Oliver. Sorry, Sainsbury's, but cooking isn't satisfying because you twitch like a hamster on crack while preparing food; it's satisfying because you spend time working on the meal and getting something out of it. (To be fair: the Jamie Oliver ads seem to be heading towards category 1) with the introduction of a "girlfriend"). I also don't want to see stupid family dinners, or stupid families full stop. And I don't care what you thought of the movie. Honestly, I don't give a damn if Johnny and James Sadsack (aged 14 and 15, respectively) thought FotR was "cool". I'd like to see a little more of the film itself, thanks.
Sorry for the rant. I gotta lotta hate to give.
I have rarely bought something directly due to an advert, but I have become aware of many thing that I bought through adverts. Also many small items (food/drink) I have bought because I saw an advert and I want to try it out, but as I have tried most drinks then I would probably try a new one with or without advertising, it just might take me longer to know it was available.
Look at websites, this forum is the most active NS forum. Why? It is advertised on the main site, tbh <b>any</b> forum is pretty much the same just popular ones are usually better, just because they have more people.
Seriously tho, Most networks dont like to cut into ther "commercial time" to advertise thier own shows, so the just advertise new shows at the bottom of the screen DURING THE SHOW!
BTW the commercials that annoy me most. Subway A-hole commercials....that one guy from thier last campaign.
The most current best buy campaign, where the BB workers are helping a customer with a product, go into a daydream where the customer is a complete moron, and then they suggest another product based on that daydream. "Good thing you came to Best Buy, your to freaking stupid make a purchase without our help!"
And the recent trend of commercials within commercials...Ya kno, those commercials that show a Ford escape mashing its way though the andes...then zooms in on the guys watch, and keeps flashing pictures of his watch until the end, and then has both Ford and Timex logo at the end.(cant think of a particular instance, but Ive seen an ever increasing amount of these "multi purpose" ads recently.