Advertising rant

Kell

Hey-

I dont know about the rest of you, but is anyone else getting increasingly annoyed at the use of sexual innuendo and semi naked women to sell a plethora of products from shaving foam through to washing powder?

I for one fúcking hate it which has surprised me slightly as I have no problem with porn and am fairly liberal in my view on sex as a whole, but at least porn is honest. TBH I dont know why more women have issues with porn and the way it portrays women when every five minutes a woman is being flashed across your TV screen touching something provocatively in the hope you'll buy it.

As a slight aside, do any of you go and buy anything as a result of seeing an advert? Does it work anymore? Just asking as I am completely immune to it.

Lafortezza

Originally posted by Kell
Hey-

As a slight aside, do any of you go and buy anything as a result of seeing an advert? Does it work anymore? Just asking as I am completely immune to it.

I'm guessing it works fairly subliminally, you don't actually say that ad for X is amazing and I will find it and buy it the next time I leave the house,

its more that when you're out buying shaving stuff, you see the Gillette shelf and the advertisement you remember (above Wilkinson Sword etc) is the one with the hot chick stroking the hunky man's face, its not a conscious decision but its enough to sway you..

personally I'd try to go for value and quality, but if a brand has a good reputation and memorable ads then I'd choose it above an unknown brand (all other things being roughly equal)

Beruthiel

Originally posted by Kell
I dont know about the rest of you, but is anyone else getting increasingly annoyed at the use of sexual innuendo and semi naked women to sell a plethora of products from shaving foam through to washing powder?

agreed!
back in the day I saw ads like that on French TV and used to slag them for such adverts
and now here we are years later, doing the same thing!
I don't understand why it's used unless it's for male products (we all know what they 'think' with, so it I can understand it for that) shave with this product and women will be throwing themselves at ya

As a slight aside, do any of you go and buy anything as a result of seeing an advert? Does it work anymore? Just asking as I am completely immune to it.

no, it does not work on me, but then I am cynical at the best of times

MAC_E

It would be interesting, lets say to record the number advertisments we see each day. Thousands upon thousands of images all after yer money.

One thing that really annoys me is the those big sheet advertisments that you see hanging up on the beautiful Dublin buildings (No Pun intended). It seems to me that were all going to end up with a city covered with Vodafone ads of Smiley david beckham playing with himself (On his mobile of course).

On the topic of semi naked woman been used by these heartless marketing types for their personal gain ..... well if I was going to be pushed into buying anything by anyone, it would preferably be by a beautiful semi naked woman.

Clintons Cat

Got a bad case of the KFC munchies about five seconds after they played the ad last night,

The place was packed with slackers like us

Moral of the story Advertising + Dope works.

ps remember the Bill Hicks coke advertisement?

Kell

Originally posted by lafortezza
personally I'd try to go for value and quality, but if a brand has a good reputation and memorable ads then I'd choose it above an unknown brand

How much would the ad play a part though? I mean, who has ever seen an advert for a Ferrari, or a Porsche for that matter, yet everyone knows the mark and buys it through reputation.

Everyone knows that Tampax, Lilets and whatever makes tampons, but FFS do we need it flashed in front of us roughly thirty times a day. Same goes for that Flash príck and as for two people starting to make out on the sofa in a Centra advert, what the fúck is that all about?

Venom

Ad's that really píss me off or are just crap make me go out of my way never to buy the product in question again.

Clintons Cat

Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard is a good book on the way advertising works.

Jingles and Memes and Product association etc.

Ferrari spends millions on formula one because they want their sports cars to be associated with performance.An Schumaker is practically a walking talking billboard for them.

DeVore

Fnckin' advertisers and marketeers. They cheapen the human spirit... *spit*.

DeV.

Captain Trips

That Centra is a really irritating. It shows that woman at the start in underwear, grabbing your attention. And you watch the whole ad just thinking they'll show it again! Argh!

Not as mind-numbingly infuriating as the voice of the guy doing their radio ads though.

Not that I'm mocking centra; they just want to try and become a mini-tesco, which at this stage they really are.

Earthhorse

If I remember correctly, my marketing lecturer gave us the following rough statistic:

You see approximately 1,000 advertisements a day.

Of these you remember 10%.

Of that 100 around 10% make an impact.

Zombrex

Did anyone see those stupid ads for that Shark drink ... huge big billboards of a naked girl with a tiny tattoo of a shark and some crap about shark attacks are rising or some such ... I had no idea what the ad was for weeks after seeing it ... talk about appealing to the lowest common factor ... Naked Girl + Anything = Money for Us

The worst ads seem to be for the drinks industry at the moment ...

"Do you have a wicked side? ... no, well drink Wicked and you will turn into a drunk, fight starting prick who beats up their girlfriend ... being wicked is good!"

"Cheating on your girlfriend? Good for you!, the slag deserved it ... now get a few Vodkas in you and your conscience will be completely clear .... i.e. u will be completely pissed you won't know what u have been doing"

"Do you Believe? ... it doesn't matter in what silly boy! ... just drink Guinness!! You will believe anything we tell you!! Guinness is good for you!"

All this bloody branding it getting way out of control ... ads that say nothing about the product (sometimes not even showing or mentioning it) they just flash up either a very well made, but ultimately pointless short film (stand up Guinness) or flash a couple of tits and a dirty joke (basically any other drinks company).

Of slightly more worry is the massive shift up gear of advertising events and sponsorship ...

Was no one else a little taken back by the Guinness DART a few years back? .. or the fact that there seems to be no music festivals in Ireland anymore, just huge advertisements for Guinness and Heineken with a little rock and or roll thrown in?? When did witness start being spelt Witnness??

And why can't I buy a Cadbury's bar of chocolate in my college?? Why is it one big advertisement for Nestle?

Gordon

I have a mental filter - it really is mental. You just have to ignore the adverts, but the only way you ignore the adverts is if you don't buy all this consumer tat.

I blame designer products, labels etc.

mike65

I nearly don't notice most ads these days as I tend to check other channels or text but yeah its a bore and I'm sure it cant shift anymore product despite what focus
groups might tell 'em ("I'd buy that if I could see some pussy or nipples at least!")

One ad that did catch my eye is on bus-shelters at the mo its got a pretty woman cupping her breasts but its an ad for a hair-product. It was'nt until I was on foot that I finally spotted the "connection" between boobs and hair.

As for drink ads, don't get me started - the proposed ban can't kick in soon enough!

Mike.

seamus

Sex is one of the most powerful tools they can use for advertising. By projecting images of "ideal" things (people, bodies, cars, actions) or even just by using images to create the emotion of desire, they can really get very low into people's psyche and fiddle around to make them think things.

I think advertising is really beginning to struggle however. Most of our parents (and even some of the older boardsters) can probably remember the days when advertisments were sparse, and only the biggest brands had any kind of mass advertising. Now they're everywhere. Literally. And it's been like that certainly all of the time I've been alive. So I'm pretty much numb to it at this point. And everyone else is too, and beginning to get irritated by it. Why do we go mental when we arrive at a site full of ads (even if they're not pop-up), or prefer to watch a film on BBC?

At this point, marketeers exploit every single available avenue to pimp their warez, and the further inroad to people's lives advertising goes, the more annoyed people become. One side has to give. And the people never give. I would predict (and certainly hope) that advertising, as we know it, will be dead in 30 years. If I was looking to buy a product I had never bought before, I would either go into a shop and look at all the different brands before making a decision, or I would consult friends/family/online nerds (for bigger purchases obviously), and increasing amounts of people are doing this, as opposed to buying something because it's marketed as being good.

Victor

Some points:

Some ad.s are so vague these days that having seen the ad. 20+ times, I still don't know what the product is. :rolleyes:

Some ad.s are genuinely good (the Clark's shoes 'catwalk' series comes to mind). The Peugeot 'hero' series was also good (some people were offened by a male lifeguard giving mouth-to-mouth to a drowning man).

I rarely buy any product that has been advertised with (semi-)naked people in them. But I like that Piz-Buin ad. (spray on tan).

I'm concerned with the way that phone boxes and even post boxes now carry avertising. I clutters the street visually and allows a greater level of anti-social behavior (you can't see into the phone box). Whats next telephone poles, kerbs and manhole covers?

DeVore

If you want to read an excellent book , get NOLOGO by Naomi Klein. She's writes very well researched material and has a breadth of understanding of the advertising industry that few can claim. Great book, you *will* get angry though.

DeV.

Captain Trips

1. Find something to sell
2. Add in Nudity
3. ?????
4. Profit!!!!

sceptre

Originally posted by Wicknight
just huge advertisements for Guinness and Heineken with a little rock and or roll thrown in?? When did witness start being spelt Witnness??

in one of those moments which really makes my friends think I just fake having intelligence in some big Rainman effort...
the connection between Guinness and the double n in 'witnness' never occurred to me till you pointed at it.

Moving on rapidly, the ASAI seem to be flexing their muscles on this one recently. Their latest bulletin (from a few days ago) has three examples (here, here, and here) of complaints upheld on the basis of using sex to sell unrelated products.

They've also stamped on the Walkers adverts ("ribbed (or might have been "rippled") for her pleasure"), details available in the same bulletin.

Zombrex

Originally posted by DeVore
If you want to read an excellent book , get NOLOGO by Naomi Klein.

Excellent book ... I espeically liked/enraged-by the story about the kid in the US who got suspened from school for wearing a Pepsi t-shirt on the schools "Coke Day" ...

we may laugh now, but how long till something like that happens over here ...

Victor

Originally posted by Captain Trips
1. Find something to sell
2. Add in Nudity
3. ?????
4. Profit!!!!

Have you been watching South Park again (underpants -> ???? -> profit)?

Kell

Originally posted by Wicknight
When did witness start being spelt Witnness??

I went to the first festival and as far as I remember it has been spelt that way from day one. Still, I take your point.

K-

Zombrex

Originally posted by Kell
I went to the first festival and as far as I remember it has been spelt that way from day one.

Well I didn't actually mean when did they come up with the idea to spell it like that, I know the Witness festival have always spelt it Witnness

I was just pointing out that even the name of the festival itself is used as brand awareness advertising for Guinness (and that this kinda pissed me off ... even more so cause all my friends think it is "really clever" ... got to start hanging around with a smarter people)

oscarBravo

Just to add another angle to all of this:

Lots of people have mentioned that they are getting píssed off with the tenor and style of advertising lately, to the point of refusing to buy the products. Very recently I spent a few hours listening to Drayton Bird (one of the ad industry's most respected creative directors) talking about this very subject. He reckons that the trend towards "cleverness" in advertising is an indicator that admen are more motivated by the desire to win awards than to sell products.

As an example, he showed two ads for the same product that ran simultaneously, one of which was informative and the other "clever" or "creative". The informative ad generated £250,000 in profit, whereas the "clever" ad didn't even pay for itself.

We can only hope that manufacturers will discover this for themselves and begin to revert to informative advertising.

[tangent]
There is a conspiracy theory, which intrigues me, that television is getting more and more depressing (soaps et al) for the specific purpose of creating contrast with the ads. Think about it: regular programming keeps telling you all that's wrong with the world, then these nice helpful ads tell you how to solve all your problems...!
[/tangent]

Clintons Cat

As an example, he showed two ads for the same product that ran simultaneously, one of which was informative and the other "clever" or "creative". The informative ad generated £250,000 in profit, whereas the "clever" ad didn't even pay for itself.

Can i ask what the product was?
How is it possible to tell which ad was the effective one if both were running simultaneously?

The only way i can see it working was if he meant two seperate campaigns being run in different geographical regions,then fine,but if it was down to market research asking which of two adverts people induced people to buy a product they might have found it easier to recall the "informative" advert more quickly but they might have been more induced and influenced to buy the product by the more stylish aspirations of the more creative advertisement.

<<<edit>>>
From a browse of Drayton Bird Online
Drayton Bird is more involved in Direct Marketing,mail shots and tele sales.Hardly an area of Advertising that could be called "creative" by even the most generous observer.In a medium like DM redundancy is to be avoided.

[tangent]
There is a conspiracy theory, which intrigues me, that television is getting more and more depressing (soaps et al) for the specific purpose of creating contrast with the ads. Think about it: regular programming keeps telling you all that's wrong with the world, then these nice helpful ads tell you how to solve all your problems...!
[/tangent]

Doesnt explain why ITV is so rubish at situation comedy substituting edge for cheese, and the BBC excell at gloomy soaps and drama.

oscarBravo

Originally posted by Clintons Cat
Can i ask what the product was?

It was a vaccuum cleaner with some unique features at the time, which was quite some time ago. I don't remember the brand.

How is it possible to tell which ad was the effective one if both were running simultaneously?

I'm not sure of the exact mechanism used to determine this, but I know the campaigns were conducted simultaneously with the express intention of determining which would be more effective, so it's reasonable to assume that they had a reliable system built in for measuring effectiveness.

Clintons Cat

An educated guess would be mail shots.Thanks for the info though.

I suspect Drayton Bird was involved in the Dyson Vacumn cleaner campaign.With its multitude of Unique Selling Points it would be a prime contender for Drayton Birds no frills Marketing approach.

The Drayton Bird site is worth a browse by the way especially this part on sample campaigns DB
Those leads should keep me amused for a couple of hours or so

Victor

Originally posted by Clintons Cat
How is it possible to tell which ad was the effective one if both were running simultaneously?

If the particular product is being sold over the phone/ mail order, just have different phone numbers / addresses. Or have 10% -v- €10 off a €100 product.

McGinty

I believe that they use scantily clad women in adverts to appeal to both men and women, the male side has been explained, but if you notice half naked women are used for women's products because it is not selling a product, it is selling an image or a dream, ie in a subliminal way, it is saying use this product and you will look like the model, etc.

I agree Kell, it is pissing me of too from the point that they show women as just objects for titillation, again I don't have a problme with porn, you know what you are getting but on a more serious note, children are being subjected to this subversive imagering and it may affect their viewing of women. Girls will think that they only way to get on in life is to bare all and boys will think that all there is to a woman is legs, boobs, etc.

Like De Vore I have read No Logo and it explains advertising, branding very well. The book is excellent and yes De Vore it does make you angry but also makes you more aware and I am grateful for that.

Hairy Homer

Advertising is now so pervasive that it's even taking over kiddies games.

One of my kids just got a birthday present of the Irish version of Monopoly.
Now when I were a lad, Crumlin and Kimmage were the two cheapest properties and Ailesbury and Shrewsbury Road were the two most expensive.

The current edition though has changed all of this so that Dublin Castle is now the most expensive property. Most unnerving of all, corporate sponsorship has now come into play so that many of the sites have company logos plastered all over them. You can buy the whole of Newcastle West (complete with Ballygowan logo) for example. Easons is there, sponsoring (I think—I'm writing this from memory) Abbey St.

This can't be too recent a move. One of the sponsors is Ebeon, a 'dot.com' startup which crashed and burned two years ago.

Fancy polluting with advertising messages a game that inculcates the ways of the capitalist speculator in small children! Is nothing sacred?

WhiteWashMan

no nody ever advertises something as bad for you.
or makes you smell bad,
or makes you unattractive tothe opposite sex.

sex sells.
period.

magazines are covered in beautiful women that people are suppose to follow. they create their own market and braindead people follow.
jeri halliwell lost a load of weight and became slilm and wonderful and now prances about in knickers and bra because her body will sell her songs. the same with baby spice. her latest video has her naked all over the place, but the song sucks.

people want to be like these images. its as simple as that. if you buy coke, you will have fun, if you buy a porche, within minutes some bird will be sucking your cóck. im sure if someone marketed wellies as sexy, people would buy them under the impression that wwearing them to a nightclub will get them laid.

no one dresses up thinking they will look crap on a satruday night.
i mean, using a shampoo and sounding like you are having an orgasm? i remember the ad. i dont rememebr the shampoo though bad advertising.
although it has to be said i really hate the maltesers ads, and i remember them.

ads are run with a specific target audience in mind.
telly tubbies did not become an overnight success because they were lovable rogues.
it was because they were targeted at kids (and lazy arts students) and when kids want something inthis day and age, its hard to resist.

i have just entered the domain of marketing, and have started designing some ads and campaigns for my business, and its really interesting stuff.

but i doubt i will be drapping a semi naked bird across an SGI Onyx3800 just yet....

Mercury_Tilt

This post has been deleted.

DeVore

See not EVERYONE thinks that way though.

I try and wear as little branded anything as I can. Any brands I do wear or associate with is on the basis that their product rocks. (My CAT basketball boots and my Kickers t-shirt are the only things I can think of off the top of my head).

What I object to is the invasion of our space. SMS Spam, spam mail, outdoor advertising, hijacking concerts, "bro-ing" and privacy invasions.

DeV.

amp

I think sex just opens the door. For example a Centra ad starts on a blonde in her undies for no apparent reason and then not once do we see her again in the entire ad.

But it gets peoples attention, and we watch the ad in case she makes a second appearance, and then because of this relatively higher effort, we remember the ad better.

Some ads aren't there to sell products, they're trying to infect minds with names, so the next time a person who's seen the ad is going to the shops, they may go for the Centra cos it feels familiar.

Doesn't seem to work on me, I buy at Spar cos they usually have Pepsi Max.

WhiteWashMan

Originally posted by DeVore

What I object to is the invasion of our space. SMS Spam, spam mail, outdoor advertising, hijacking concerts, "bro-ing" and privacy invasions.

DeV.

i agree.
if you are going to watch tele, then be prepared for adverts.
if you are going to the cinema, then prepare for adverts
if you listen tot he radio, prepare for adverts.
if youa re going to watch a film, you can be damn sure theres advertising in that as well.

i have a mobile phone, stay the fúck away from it with your spam messages.
and stop sending me mail i dont want and then try and charge me to not send it anymore.

but spam i think is different than advertising.
ok, both trying to sell a product, or get you to use one thing over another, but i dont have a problem with advertising.
i do have a great big problem with spam. spam is directed advertising, directed at oyu personally.
advertising is just something that you may or may not see.
if you dont watch tele, you wont see the centra ad.
if you dont get buses, you probably wont see the ads in bus shelters.
you can place yourself so that the footprint of advertising is large or small, depending on whether you want to notice it or not.

spam, is direct, in your face, no holds bar invasion of privacy. you cannot ignore it.

besides, not all adverts are selling something. some of them are information. government health warnings, whatever.
advertisment is not bad as such.

amp

spam, is direct, in your face, no holds bar invasion of privacy. you cannot ignore it.

Unless you live in a dark hole on the moon it's a bit hard to avoid advertising too. It's increasingly impossible to find someone who hasn't at least heard of MacDonalds or Coca-Cola.

Spam and advertising are one and the same imo, both try to get their message out to as many people as possible, with the hope that a percentage will at least be subconciously familar with the product.

Of course, spam is the extreme end of advertising. It's like cold calling or junk mail or a salesman at the door. People don't like that level of intimacy so quickly. That's why advertising is tolerated, because it allows us to look at the product without it entering our little bubbles.




*not you bubbles

DeVore

Die evil scum die.

Have you read NO LOGO? Would you want your kids going to one of the Channel One sponsored schools?

"Advertising" is the mini-me of its satanic brother: Marketing.

We should pack them all into a space ship and fly it at the sun. (but not you wwman... no no... that would be terrible).

DeV.

Hairy Homer

What's it cost to buy a banner ad on this site?

amp

Heh.

Ok back on topic. Advertising and teh sexeh people...

WhiteWashMan

Originally posted by amp
Heh.

Ok back on topic. Advertising and teh sexeh people...

sex sells.

DeVore

Originally posted by Hairy Homer
What's it cost to buy a banner ad on this site?

If you are a corporate entity its 1 Euro per 1000. Considerably cheaper then many trade-rags I might point out


If you are a community body its free (particularly if you are a boards member of decent standing)



right back at you.



DeV.

yossarin

so if i wanted to put a pic of myself with the phrase "he's so beautiful, you must score him"
in a banner from now untill the boards beer, how much would it cost ?

I dunno about this "community body" thing - i mean I'm not *that* much of a tart...

DeVore

I presume I dont have to dignify that with a response.






























*doh*

DeV.

Captain Trips

Originally posted by DeVore
Die evil scum die.

The evil scum the? Doesn't make any sense.

Hairy Homer

Originally posted by DeVore



right back at you.



DeV.

Ok-ay-ee


So does that include a spittle-drenched free ride to the sun with the exhortation 'Die Scum, Die' ringing in your ears, or does that cost extra?

:-)

On a serious note, are you saying that any advertising is fine as long as it's cheap? What would that do, per se, for standards?

Victor

While many ad.s certainly sell on image rather than substance, soemtimes it is nice to see that image (assuming that image has some substance behind it).

Originally posted by WhiteWashMan
if you dont get buses, you probably wont see the ads in bus shelters.

Actually a lot of Bus stop ad.s are aimed at drivers not bus passengers (fewer ABC1s :rolleyes:) Hence they tend to have strong visuals and less writing.

Captain Trips

The sprite ad comparing it to the gilette/whoever ads for shaving is great though. If only because they've been taking the piss out of other corps products and ads and are basically doing no wrong with being sexist/racist/making you feel stupid. Very good.

DeVore

Originally posted by Hairy Homer

On a serious note, are you saying that any advertising is fine as long as it's cheap? What would that do, per se, for standards?

You brought price into it. Dont put words in my mouth.
You asked how much and I replied.

Personally I'd take the ads off (and in fact we are quite close to doing so). Dealing with the ad agencies makes me feel like I need a good scrub.

Advertising isnt just Good or Evil... its shades of grey. Banner ads like the one above are much better then pop-ups neh?
Advertising itself is on the good end of the Advertising - Marketing scale... sometimes it can even be informative... though rarely "educational".

Read: McLibel, NO LOGO and Fast Food Nation and tell me that advertisers and marketeers shouldnt be eradicated from our world (for a better tomorrow!)

DeV.

dahamsta

Originally posted by WhiteWashMan
sex sells.
period.

heh

sorry

adam

Hugh_C

Originally posted by Kell
Everyone knows that Tampax, Lilets and whatever makes tampons, but FFS do we need it flashed in front of us roughly thirty times a day.

30 times a day? I think you need to get out more.

Hugh_C

Originally posted by Wicknight
.. or the fact that there seems to be no music festivals in Ireland anymore, just huge advertisements for Guinness and Heineken with a little rock and or roll thrown in?? When did witness start being spelt Witnness??

Witnness was always spelt Witnness, and whether you like it or not, these festivals wouldn't happen if it weren't for the VAST, and I mean VAST, amount of money that Guinness or whoever throw at them. Witnness would not happen. Period. Green Energy would not happen. Period. Cork Jazz Festival, the Cat Laughs etc etc etc.

Marketing & branding is a neccessary evil. Advertising is just a part of that.