Its a very obvious and long-standing criticism of the advertising industry that adverts for Christmas related products get earlier each year. The first advert this year with any mention of the dreaded C-word (NO, not that one!) was in early November and since then many companies have begun their drive for extra holiday season sales.
The most nauseating of these adverts so far is quite probably the one for Tesco, with quite appropriately enough, the most well marketed "band" in history - the Spice Girls. The guy who dreamed up their entire concept is quite possibly laughing into his champagne at the thought of their comeback tour. But anyway, back to the Tesco advert. From the first implausible dialogue "I'm looking for some presents for some girl friends" (Why would the Spice Girls shop at Tesco for Christmas presents?) to the last sequence, where appropriately enough Geri Halliwell gets the last shot, the advert is one embarassing cliche.
Of course, as everyone knows, the run in to Christmas begins at the start of Advent, the four weeks leading up to Christmas, the birth of Jesus, right? Everyone presumably except the ubiquitous Coca Cola company. Why they need to advertise anymore is beyond me. Its one of the most recognisable brands in the world.
Coca Cola seems to have quite the connection with Christmas. On top of the widely spread urban myth regarding the invenion of Santa Claus' costume colours, now it seems that until their Christmas advert comes on TV it isn't Christmas. A cursory look at Facebook for example shows that their are 16000 people who believe that it isn't Christmas until the coke advert is shown on tv, and almost a further 1,000 who decreed "Bring back the official start of Christmas... bring back the coke trucks.
Whether you are a Christian or not, Christmas is an important time of the year, this period of the year is important also for Hindus and Jews, as Divali and Hannukah also fall around the next couple of months. What Christmas should be about is people coming together, and occasionally being nice. But i do wish that people should realise its true roots, not the ones in the Coca Cola mission statement.
Sunday, 18 November 2007
Thursday, 8 November 2007
No Budget??? No Problem
There seems to be a certain group of television adverts that are particularly prevelant during the day, unfortunately i barely get to see them any more as I am now a working, and supposedly productive member of society. Luckily these adverts have been produced on such a low budget that it implies the companies that they advertise can't afford updated adverts, so i do get plenty of opportunity to see them.
Most of these adverts seem to be for alternative forms of financing. They pretty much go along the lines of.....
"Are you a moron?", "Did you get a credit card or a loan and not realise they cost you money?", "Do you fancy acquiring more debt for yourself?"
Okay, so i'm paraphrasing and perhaps my summary comes down to the fact that every day i talk to people who really should have been refused a credit card on the grounds of IQ. I also appreciate that people do get into financial trouble for circumstances beyond their control. One of the most satisfying parts of my job is helping these people. But anyway, going back to the most important thing, the quality of these adverts is so poor.
From the terribly animated big blue telephone to my own personal favourite, the Norton Finance Advert where the old man runs through the hurdles that prevent him getting finance, debt management companies really ought to be able to afford more classy adverts.
Most of these adverts seem to be for alternative forms of financing. They pretty much go along the lines of.....
"Are you a moron?", "Did you get a credit card or a loan and not realise they cost you money?", "Do you fancy acquiring more debt for yourself?"
Okay, so i'm paraphrasing and perhaps my summary comes down to the fact that every day i talk to people who really should have been refused a credit card on the grounds of IQ. I also appreciate that people do get into financial trouble for circumstances beyond their control. One of the most satisfying parts of my job is helping these people. But anyway, going back to the most important thing, the quality of these adverts is so poor.
From the terribly animated big blue telephone to my own personal favourite, the Norton Finance Advert where the old man runs through the hurdles that prevent him getting finance, debt management companies really ought to be able to afford more classy adverts.
Sunday, 21 October 2007
Damage Limitations
"We have the trust of the nation, we can't let the people down" - who could this be a quote from?
Predictably enough its from the post office, who are engaged in a feeble PR campaign to repair the damage caused to their business and reputation of the postal strike. And who is the celebrity they have got in to boost their brand? Some multi-millionaire pop star perhaps? A famous sports person? Oh no. The Post Office has decided that the person who best suits their goals here is Joan Collins, who most people under the age of 30 would barely be able to identify?
I have sympathy for the postal workers, as they are only fighting for a fair deal, but couple this with the fact that the Post Office is planning to shut down hundreds of small branches, that many old people use as a lifeline.
This postal strike has cost the economy millions. In Liverpool and Leeds for example where wildcat strikes have been taking place, the mail is days, and in more remote regions, weeks late. It has delayed many business payments, causing damage to many small businesses that rely on them, not to mention inconvenience many people waiting for personal mail.
So if the post office think that an advert straight out of the crunchy nut cornflake school of "inspiring" people is going to repair the damage to goodwill towards the post office i think they are sadly mistaken.
And here's a tip for the postal workers - if you want leverage, threaten to strike the week or two before Christmas.
Predictably enough its from the post office, who are engaged in a feeble PR campaign to repair the damage caused to their business and reputation of the postal strike. And who is the celebrity they have got in to boost their brand? Some multi-millionaire pop star perhaps? A famous sports person? Oh no. The Post Office has decided that the person who best suits their goals here is Joan Collins, who most people under the age of 30 would barely be able to identify?
I have sympathy for the postal workers, as they are only fighting for a fair deal, but couple this with the fact that the Post Office is planning to shut down hundreds of small branches, that many old people use as a lifeline.
This postal strike has cost the economy millions. In Liverpool and Leeds for example where wildcat strikes have been taking place, the mail is days, and in more remote regions, weeks late. It has delayed many business payments, causing damage to many small businesses that rely on them, not to mention inconvenience many people waiting for personal mail.
So if the post office think that an advert straight out of the crunchy nut cornflake school of "inspiring" people is going to repair the damage to goodwill towards the post office i think they are sadly mistaken.
And here's a tip for the postal workers - if you want leverage, threaten to strike the week or two before Christmas.
Tuesday, 16 October 2007
BBC Adverts
Now obviously the BBC technically doesn't show adverts, just as it should be.
What the BBC do have is adverts for their own programs. Generally these just consist of a bit of footage from a show coming up, but in the case of live programming this isn't the case, for obvious reasons. The advert that i have spotted recently is for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year*, featuring slightly biased opinions from various BBC presenters and pundits and the odd proper sportsperson. So I am going to add my own opinion to this. Without doubt the sports personality of the year should be Lewis Hamilton. No-one else in this calendar year has achieved so much in their sport (unless Johnny Wilkinson kicks England to victory this weekend).
My idea as to who it should be is shared by several others within the advert itself which allows the BBC plenty of time to get it wrong. At one point they show a picture of the McLaren car which Hamilton drives, and obviously the implication is that its Lewis himself.
Actually its Fernando Alonso in the car shown, the helmet is a dead giveaway.
*the concept sports personality of the year itself is flawed, if we look down the list of previous winners we find people like Steve Davis and Nigel Mansell, men with arguably less charisma and by extension personality, than a lemon
What the BBC do have is adverts for their own programs. Generally these just consist of a bit of footage from a show coming up, but in the case of live programming this isn't the case, for obvious reasons. The advert that i have spotted recently is for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year*, featuring slightly biased opinions from various BBC presenters and pundits and the odd proper sportsperson. So I am going to add my own opinion to this. Without doubt the sports personality of the year should be Lewis Hamilton. No-one else in this calendar year has achieved so much in their sport (unless Johnny Wilkinson kicks England to victory this weekend).
My idea as to who it should be is shared by several others within the advert itself which allows the BBC plenty of time to get it wrong. At one point they show a picture of the McLaren car which Hamilton drives, and obviously the implication is that its Lewis himself.
Actually its Fernando Alonso in the car shown, the helmet is a dead giveaway.
*the concept sports personality of the year itself is flawed, if we look down the list of previous winners we find people like Steve Davis and Nigel Mansell, men with arguably less charisma and by extension personality, than a lemon
Saturday, 13 October 2007
Memo for the Morons at E-On
Someone really needs to tell the people at E-on that wind farms don't make wind - they just harness the power of it
A Suitable Job For a Woman?
Although my television viewing has been curtailed by the unfortunate necessity to get a proper job and turn up for work, I have still seen enough adverts in the time i do get to spend at home to find some real gems to talk about.
The advert that has caught my eye in the last couple of weeks is quite surreal and i'm not sure that the premise really works as an advert for this product. The product in question is a type of pre-packaged fresh pasta from Italy (although closer inspection may reveal a label saying "made in Hemel Hempstead" - i'm not sure as i haven't been able to bring myself to buy it)
Basically the advert takes the form of a news report about people protesting about the lack of fresh pasta in the UK. This I can just about live with as there have been many actions brought in front of parliament in the last couple of years and fresh pasta is by no means the stupidest.
the part of the advert that particularly causes me to sigh and lose the will to live is where the advert cuts to Ann Widdecombe saying that fresh pasta should be moved up the political agenda.
This is a woman who has formed part of opposition cabinet and if the Tories hadn't been completely incompetent could have been part of the government of this country. Admittedly the member of parliament for Maidstone and the Weald does have form for putting her name to stupid political causes. She supports Homeopathy for a start.
From the advertisers point of view i'm sure that this advert will not be the greatest success. I'm certainly not disposed to buying products endorsed by either Ann Widdecombe or the Conservative Party in general and i'm not convinced that the general public are either.
The advert that has caught my eye in the last couple of weeks is quite surreal and i'm not sure that the premise really works as an advert for this product. The product in question is a type of pre-packaged fresh pasta from Italy (although closer inspection may reveal a label saying "made in Hemel Hempstead" - i'm not sure as i haven't been able to bring myself to buy it)
Basically the advert takes the form of a news report about people protesting about the lack of fresh pasta in the UK. This I can just about live with as there have been many actions brought in front of parliament in the last couple of years and fresh pasta is by no means the stupidest.
the part of the advert that particularly causes me to sigh and lose the will to live is where the advert cuts to Ann Widdecombe saying that fresh pasta should be moved up the political agenda.
This is a woman who has formed part of opposition cabinet and if the Tories hadn't been completely incompetent could have been part of the government of this country. Admittedly the member of parliament for Maidstone and the Weald does have form for putting her name to stupid political causes. She supports Homeopathy for a start.
From the advertisers point of view i'm sure that this advert will not be the greatest success. I'm certainly not disposed to buying products endorsed by either Ann Widdecombe or the Conservative Party in general and i'm not convinced that the general public are either.
Wednesday, 3 October 2007
Pendolino-no,no,no!
The marketing people at Virgin Trains obviously have a tough job on their hands. For a start they work for a rail franchise here in the UK, already a struggle. So obviously any chance they have to put forward a positive about their company they will take. What I don't like are adverts that put forward environmental benefits when they know full well that most of their services do not.
The Pendolino trains operated by Virgin actually return electricity to the national grid when they brake, a technology that Formula One cars are looking at emulating (tho obviously not returning power to the national grid). Anyway Virgin are pushing this quite substantially in their adverts.
However statistics show that only 40% of the British mainline is electrified and what type of trains are operated on these non-electrified stretches? The ever reliable, but polluting diesels.
A study by the Rail Safety and Standards Board concluded that the most advanced diesel train in use in this country, the Virgin Voyager, also has the highest emissions and that;
Its performance compared with cars is steadily worsening as motor manufacturers improve efficiency (Source. The Times 13/7/07)
Now given that these Voyagers are due to remain in service until 2030 at the earliest can we expect one of Virgin Trains' adverts to bear any information on these trains and how many kettles you would have to switch off to save the amount of energy they cost?
But its not all doom and gloom for Virgin, as it is still more carbon-effective for businessmen and women traveling as individuals to use the train than it is to use their cars.
The Pendolino trains operated by Virgin actually return electricity to the national grid when they brake, a technology that Formula One cars are looking at emulating (tho obviously not returning power to the national grid). Anyway Virgin are pushing this quite substantially in their adverts.
However statistics show that only 40% of the British mainline is electrified and what type of trains are operated on these non-electrified stretches? The ever reliable, but polluting diesels.
A study by the Rail Safety and Standards Board concluded that the most advanced diesel train in use in this country, the Virgin Voyager, also has the highest emissions and that;
Its performance compared with cars is steadily worsening as motor manufacturers improve efficiency (Source. The Times 13/7/07)
Now given that these Voyagers are due to remain in service until 2030 at the earliest can we expect one of Virgin Trains' adverts to bear any information on these trains and how many kettles you would have to switch off to save the amount of energy they cost?
But its not all doom and gloom for Virgin, as it is still more carbon-effective for businessmen and women traveling as individuals to use the train than it is to use their cars.
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