Lately I find myself annoyed by repetitive advertising on television. Certainly there are some very clever and entertaining commercials; oddly enough, some I rather enjoy, like that “who’s in your top 5″ when the dad agrees his daughter has hot friends! Makes me laugh every time.
But it has occurred to me recently that advertisers may be doing themselves more harm than good. We see a “great” commercial once or twice and we’ll mention it to our friends — “Did you see that funny ad last night?” But too much exposure to the same 30-60 seconds of clever eventually turns me OFF. Way off. So I know ad nauseum that 15 minutes will save me an alleged fortune on Geico car insurance because a Gecko tells me so; but do I care? No. Not any more. My insurance is NOT with Geico nor will it ever be. And that headache spray? No thank you! The ad gives me a headache! I don’t know my “sleep number,” and I don’t care (but sign me up for the Tempurpedic discount sale!) And while the fear of Robert Goulet messing up my stuff during that afternoon slump made me laugh and run for a pick-me-up the first few times I saw it, I’m way over that now, too.
The creativity involved in creating advertising appeals to me career-wise; and from a financial standpoint, I imagine it’s pretty fantastic to make a fortune for coming up with “apply directly to the forehead.” Of course, I’d feel a lot prouder with credit for writing commercials that make people laugh out loud, that have a sense of “story” and make you look forward to the next in the series. The mother shouting at her daughter over her text messaging charges is a definite classic! OMG!
The dollars spent to produce and to air these ads is enormous, certainly; but at what ultimate cost? I wonder how effective advertising even is in an era when we can jump online to compare prices and read buyer’s reviews; making educated purchase decisions rather than impulse buys. I would be interested in knowing the shelf-life of a given commercial ad? At what point does a company determine that it’s time for a fresh message? Clearly not soon enough for me, as I click past another airing of the same old, same old banter …
I do not dispute the value of a well-written, well-produced commercial; but I believe the time has come for a more dynamic approach to the medium. With so many avenues to steal viewers’ attention, a great ad needs to win me over and pull me in. Advertisers need to realize the true potential of today’s technology to create their content in new and inventive ways.
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