Today, we have a strange two-page ad for the Volkswagen Routan. The first page shows a Beetle with a microphone, saying: “No one has ever had a baby to get me. As far as I know.”
This doesn’t make any sense to me. How about you?
The next page shows actress Brooke Shields holding some babies while other babies peer into the camera. The headline says:
These are the Routan babies. Born out of desire. Desire for German engineering.
This doesn’t make any sense, either. I’ve never heard the word Routan before, so I’m wondering what Routan babies are. Maybe they have birth defects like Thalidomide babies.
Routans sound like evil aliens from Star Trek:
Kirk: Mr. Spock, how far are we from Routan space?
Spock: Exactly 0.54 parsecs.
Kirk: Uhura, see if you can raise the Routan high command. I want the Routans to know that we mean business.
Uhura: Yes, Captain.
I read the copy to find that they’re saying that people are having babies so they can buy this stupid car. Actually, it’s a stupid minivan.
Get it? It’s funny—people having babies for cars. Ha ha.
Posted in advertising, Media, Writing
Tagged ad copy, ads, advertising, Brooke Shields, copywriting, print ads, print advertising, Routan, Volkswagen
Wal-Mart customers in Valley Stream, NY wait outside the store, moments before trampling a Wal-Mart employee to death.
I wanted to say a few words about what happened at a Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, NY this morning. A crowd of 200 people waiting outside of Wal-Mart for Black Friday bargains, broke the doors down and trampled a 34-year-old male employee to death in their rush to get first shot at cheap consumer goods.
A short explanation to readers outside the US: The Friday after Thanksgiving is traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year, as people flock to stores and shopping malls to buy Christmas presents. This day has been called Black Friday, a term which dates back to the mid-1960′s when Philadelphia police officers looked upon the day and it’s attendant traffic jams and problems with dread. More recently, the term came to be linked with the day in the year that retailers began to make money (black ink vs. red ink).
Retailers have taken advantage of the day by offering special sales with deep discounts (sometimes offering limited quantities) and opening their doors very early in the morning. This has had the effect of creating long lines. Every year, newspapers carry stories about stampeding customers shoving, punching, and knocking down other customers in their rush to get to the sale items.
This morning’s death should be a wake up call. Enough is enough. This situation was created by society’s demand that people need to spend exorbitant amounts of money on Christmas gifts, whether they can afford it or not (just charge it on the credit card). This demand is fueled by advertisers who have turned people into murderous automatons.
I think it’s fair to say that you don’t see people in wealthy neighborhoods queuing up in front of the local department store and killing people in their frenzy to save a few dollars on crappy consumer goods. Gift-giving is wonderful, but if you have limited funds, you can probably get a couple of good books for your kids at a local used bookstore for under $10. Your kids aren’t going to love you more because you bought them the latest toy or video game unit. They’ll love you if you’re a good parent.
If you teach your kids that there’s no shame in not being wealthy and teach them to live within their means, you’ll be doing them a bigger favor than if you waited on some long line to save a few dollars for gifts that you can’t afford.
The only way to be truly free is to reject the message created by corporations and spread by advertising and popular culture that Christmas is about spending money on lavish gifts. Jesus said,“Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15). How can anyone profess to honor Jesus by rejecting his teachings? It’s as ludicrous as honoring pacifism by murdering people.
How must it feel to hand over the latest Nintendo game to your kid, knowing that you trampled someone to death in order to get it? How can anyone do this and call himself human?
Posted in advertising, Commercials, Media, Television, Writing
Tagged ad copy, ads, advertising, copywriting, print ads, print advertising
Every now and then, I run across an ad that is so unfathomable that I’m at a loss for words. This is one of those times.
The image in the ad is of four women and one man, clad in swimsuits. The women are wearing heels, while the man is barefoot. The man is feeding grapes to one of the women, while two other women stand around posing. Their bodies and faces are marked up as if they’re about to have plastic surgery. Another woman sits and watches off in the background.
It looks like some strange fashion ad.
To make things worse, there’s a sort of collar at the top of the page that doesn’t make any sense (that’s not meant to imply that anything in this ad makes sense). The headline says happily ever. The copy asks: What’s your after? This is followed by: It’s not fitness. It’s life. A logo says Equinox.
A quick look at Google confirmed my guess that this was an ad for a gym. Further investigation led to the discovery that this campaign has been ongoing since January, 2008 and it was shot by fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth.
If there’s anyone out there who believes that this ad is going to help market a gym, I’d like to hear from you.
Posted in advertising, Media, Writing
Tagged ad copy, ads, advertising, copywriting, Equinox gym, print ads, print advertising
Posted in movies
Tagged Charlie Chaplin, silent comedy, silent movies, Thanksgiving
Hi. We’re Microsoft. We’d like you to buy our Xbox. We’ve created this ad that was badly designed and hard to read—kind of like our software.
Does the headline say Live Your I Wasn’t One I Knew the Only Who Loved This Movie Moment? No? Then figure out some other way to read it or Google the error message because we’re not going to help. If you can’t figure it out and you need technical support for this ad, call our toll-free number and speak to one of our support representatives in India who are all named Bob. Please have your credit card ready, because it will cost $39.95. Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line…
Posted in advertising, Media, Writing
Tagged ad copy, ads, advertising, copywriting, print ads, print advertising, Xbox
I like the image of this guy wearing the ruined shirt in this ad for ConsumerSearch.com. It’s really funny.
I think a more traditional headline might have worked better than a disembodied arm holding a weird sign.
The biggest problem with the ad, though, is that you it takes too long for the reader to understand what the ad is trying to sell. If you look at the image and the sign without looking at the copy at the bottom of the ad, you might think that it’s an ad for a company that manufactures clothes dryers. The name of the brand should feature more prominently.
On a grammatical note, the first line of copy at the bottom should end with a question mark, not a period.
Posted in advertising, Media, Writing
Tagged ad copy, ads, advertising, consumersearch.com, copywriting, print ads, print advertising
Quick, don’t think of an elephant.
In the same way that you just thought of an elephant, this ad for New York New York Las Vegas Hotel & Casino invokes the smell of hot garbage. The juxtaposition of the image of a young woman with hot garbage is sure to attract many visitors to the fake Disneyland version of New York.
It’s not real, but at least it doesn’t have any smell. Here are a few other things it doesn’t have: Central Park, Gramercy Park, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural History, the Staten Island Ferry, Gray’s Papaya, the Lower East Side, or New York pizza.
However, in these troubled economic times, if you have money to blow on gambling, there aren’t any casinos in the real New York, so you might prefer Vegas. The odds are that you’ll lose money, but you won”t have to worry about that hot garbage smell.
Posted in advertising, Media, Writing
Tagged ad copy, ads, advertising, copywriting, gambling, Las Vegas, New York New York Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, print ads, print advertising
Posted in Commercials, Media, Television, Writing
Tagged chimpanzees, Japanese TV, segway, TV
This ad for Chevy uses a nice image. It’s well designed. It gives a headline without any additional copy. These are all good things.
The big problem here is the disconnect between the image and the ad. It’s an ad for cars. The message is that Chevy offers more models than Toyota or Honda with an EPA of 30 MPG or better.
What does that have to do with trees, branches, or leaves? Why is the sky green?
Are they implying they’re a green company? First of all, they’re not. And second of all, the ad isn’t making any specific claims to that end. The fact that a car gives good gas mileage doesn’t make it good for the environment.
Let’s examine the claim. Chevy’s website says the actual number of cars that they produce with an EPA of 30 MPG or more is 7. We can look at this a number of different ways.
What if Toyota or Honda each offered 6 models that offered an EPA of 30 MPG or more? That would mean that Chevy offered one more car than the others that fit the description. So what? Does anyone really care?
What if the 7 cars that Chevy claims offer 30 MPG or more are lousy cars, while the other manufacturers’ comparable models were great cars? What if the other manufacturers’ cars lasted twice as long? What if Chevy’s 7 cars all cost twice as much as the others?
When you stop for a minute and think, the whole ad just falls apart as being nonsense.
Posted in advertising, Media, Writing
Tagged ad copy, ads, advertising, Chevy, copywriting, print ads, print advertising
