D4D

An example of the unreasonable man who makes all the progress

Archive for the category “Advertising”

17 Mar 2013
1 Comment

Stalker TV Ad

At the moment, Santander have a set of adverts ‘starring’ Jensen Button, Jessica Ennis and Rory McIlroy. Suffice it to say, they’re pretty creepy…

Seriously, what crack-headed advertising exec ever thought this would be a good idea? To have sporting ‘celebrities’ effectively invading the homes and lives of everyday people, and stalking them? I can’t even understand how it’s going to portray bankers and banking in a positive light.

Indeed for me all it does is serve to make me actively not want to use Santander for anything. Ever.

(Although, on a more cynical note, it does amuse me that Santander are also paying to have the logos for Nike and Adidas all over their ad)

Posted by lyle in Advertising, Cynicism, Marketing, People, Television, Thoughts, Weirdness
14 Feb 2013

Annual Non-Imaginative Day

So yes, Valentine’s Day. Again.

It’s the day where unimaginative couples everywhere buy cards, flowers, chocolates and/or food to say something they should be doing on every day except this one.

Enjoy.  Or, you know, say it with roses…

Rose with a skull in it

Rose with a skull in it

Posted by lyle in 1BEM, Advertising, Cynicism, Valentine's Day | Leave a Comment
11 Feb 2013

The Value of Romance

While out over the weekend, I went past a Wetherspoons pub, and they’ve got a stunning offer for Valentine’s Day.

2 for twenty quid - feel valued yet?

2 for twenty quid – feel valued yet?

Yup – take your beloved out and show her how much you love and value them by making it a Meal for Two for £20.  What could possibly be more romantic than that ?

And the sad thing is, I bet they’ll be bloody packed.

Posted by lyle in 1BEM, Advertising, Cynicism, Domestic, Food, Marketing, People, Thoughts, Valentine's Day | Leave a Comment
01 Feb 2013
2 Comments

Weird Marketing

The other day, I got the strangest marketing email in a long while.

It’s from Apple, which probably explains a lot, but still, you’ve got to wonder when it comes to a subject/tag-line like this…

iPad or iPad mini. The perfect choice for Valentine’s Day.

I just can’t compute how that even works .

The additional image didn’t help explain, either.

Apple valentine's Ad

What. The. Fuck?

Posted by lyle in Advertising, Cynicism, Marketing, People, Valentine's Day, Weirdness
22 Jan 2013

Holiday Results

Sometimes I swear my brain works differently to everyone elses. (Or at least differently to the people who work in advertising agencies)  I’ve just seen an advert saying

“Book your holiday with [company] before January 31st, and your first child comes free!”

And my first thought was “Well, I suppose if it’s conceived there…”

Posted by lyle in 1BEM, Advertising, Cynicism, Weirdness | Leave a Comment
02 Jan 2013
2 Comments

Season Change

Now that we’re over and done with on the Festering Season, it’s a season change in the advertising world.

Away go all the ads for perfume, shitty music compilations, and Christmas stuff in general.

Instead, for the start of the new year we get adverts for

  • Dating sites – eHarmony, Match.com, etc.
  • Weight-loss programmes – WeightWatchers, DietChef and Slimming World
  • Holidays (and airlines)
  • Banks

One advert is missing from the list though – I think this is the first time in about a decade that I haven’t seen an advert for stopping smoking . I assume they think everyone who’s going to quit has done so by now. Or maybe it’s an extension of all the other laws/rules about not advertising cigarettes – they now also can’t advertise stopping smoking?

Anyway, it’s all interesting, in that it shows how much advertisers expect people to be ‘normal’, to do certain things at certain times of the year. I find that fascinating.

Posted by lyle in Advertising, Cynicism, Festering Season, People, Thoughts
18 Dec 2012
1 Comment

The Festering Season, 2012

For whatever reason, 2012′s Festering Season hasn’t really had as much of an impact on me as usual.

Maybe I’m mellowing. Maybe I’ve just given up on it as an unwinnable fight. I don’t know.

I still get annoyed by the bullshit commerciality of the entire enterprise – things like

  • seeing Christmas cards in the shops before Hallowe’en
  • Hearing Christmas Carols in November
  • Mince Pies with a ‘best before’ in November
  • All the insane consumer-driven shopfests in December – particularly in supermarkets

But for whatever reason, I can’t really find it in me at the moment to rant about it. Maybe I’m feeling pretty chilled at the moment, maybe it’s just (as I said before) because it’s pretty much an unwinnable fight. Maybe I’m just a bit tired of being ranty.

Whatever the reason, it just hasn’t annoyed me as much as usual.

Posted by lyle in Advertising, Festering Season, Introspective, Shopping, Thoughts

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