Adverts that just don't work...

[Edwardoka]

Quick public service announcement:

If you don't know what that is, and you happen to be at work, or if there are children about, or if you are in any way easily offended, don't try and find out. Seriously.

At one point the BBC ran an alternative 2012 olympics logo competition and someone managed to sneak in a, shall we say, "heavily inspired", entry. It was on their site for a little while before someone caught on and got it removed

Also that dunkin donut ad reminds me of andouillette for some reason

 

[AndyRM]

This thread reminds me of an early exchange in Pirates of The Caribbean:

"You are absolutely the worst pirate I've ever heard of Jack Sparrow."

"Ah, but you have heard of me."

 

[Moodyman]

Car adverts.

Any car adverts.

What? You not persuaded by the winding hillside roads with no traffic, or the wind in your hair as you cruise the French Riviera?

 

[byegad]

I doubt the numbers produced [I suspect by the advertising industry] that adverts have the claimed effect.

I do know that I have deliberately not bought from , or used the services of, firms that have particularly annoying adverts.

Two mentions are:-
Marks and Spencer luxury food, it's not just an advert' it's a particularly self-satisfied advert'!
and
That fat fool who sings about a comparison site.

The Meercat one is on the cusp too.

 

[Archie_tect]

A practice I once had the misfortune to work for were ruthlessly competitive and would never pay for expensive advertising anywhere as they made the point that you only advertise if your business isn't running at full capacity. Instead they ran half page job vacancy offers in The Journal offering jobs for 2 or 3 highly qualified staff to join us,.... when things went a bit quiet and they didn't need anyone and there wasn't any work for them and they had no intention of hiring anyone.

Why? ... because it frightened the competition that they appeared to have so much work on, and the fact that they got far more enquiries for new projects from new clients because they were clearly SO successful because they needed more staff.

The additional benefit was they got applications from all the dissatisfied staff from their local competitors, found out what everyone was being paid and got ALL the dirt on the competition too + they got to know who the best people were, and could poach all the good applicants later!

....so no, never pay for expensive and useless advertising!

 

[mjr]

Most adverts aren't selling you anything directly. They're making you aware of the brand so that when you say "Hmmm...I could really do with an xxxx", the brand you are aware of is one of those you are more likely to buy

The fact you say "wasn't that an awful advert for [insert brand name]" means that the advert has done its job, you've remembered it

Is its job really to make me associate [insert brand name] with anger and being scum that I will never buy? I doubt it.

An advert that doesn't work but doesn't make me angry is that Thatcher's Cider one with the balloon that doesn't get very high and says "Why would you want a cider that's almost perfect? Thankfully, Thatcher's make sure theirs is!" which can be interpreted as them making sure it's almost perfect in order to discourage people from drinking too much...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0ghk_IoYCw


Another famously double-meaning one is the local council social services putting up adverts saying "Consider Adoption" - I'm pretty sure that they mean they want more people to apply to adopt, but if parents of troublesome children see that...

 

[Nigeyy]

I think you're also forgetting they will make me thin and good looking. Alas mindless goes along with it too....

What? You not persuaded by the winding hillside roads with no traffic, or the wind in your hair as you cruise the French Riviera?

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I doubt the numbers produced [I suspect by the advertising industry] that adverts have the claimed effect.

I do know that I have deliberately not bought from , or used the services of, firms that have particularly annoying adverts.

Two mentions are:-
Marks and Spencer luxury food, it's not just an advert' it's a particularly self-satisfied advert'!
and
That fat fool who sings about a comparison site.

The Meercat one is on the cusp too.

Nooooooo! Best TV ever.

 

[Mugshot]

Another famously double-meaning one is the local council social services putting up adverts saying "Consider Adoption" - I'm pretty sure that they mean they want more people to apply to adopt, but if parents of troublesome children see that...

"Nothing works faster than Anadin."

 

[mjr]

"Nothing works faster than Anadin."

I was wondering what Star Wars had to do with this until I looked that one up!

 

[EltonFrog]

No advertising has worked for me since “ John Collier, John Collier the window to watch!”

 

[Archie_tect]

Caravans of Bawtry... "Can we have one dad?"

Needless to say we never did.

 

[gbb]

Trivento wine as advertised on Dave or Quest or similar.. the lamest adverts you ever did see. Get a grip maker of Trivento, the ad agency is doing you over.

 

[classic33]

A practice I once had the misfortune to work for were ruthlessly competitive and would never pay for expensive advertising anywhere as they made the point that you only advertise if your business isn't running at full capacity. Instead they ran half page job vacancy offers in The Journal offering jobs for 2 or 3 highly qualified staff to join us,.... when things went a bit quiet and they didn't need anyone and there wasn't any work for them and they had no intention of hiring anyone.

Why? ... because it frightened the competition that they appeared to have so much work on, and the fact that they got far more enquiries for new projects from new clients because they were clearly SO successful because they needed more staff.

The additional benefit was they got applications from all the dissatisfied staff from their local competitors, found out what everyone was being paid and got ALL the dirt on the competition too + they got to know who the best people were, and could poach all the good applicants later!

....so no, never pay for expensive and useless advertising!

The best advert, good or bad, will always be by word of mouth. Not something dreamt up by someone who probably hasn't used the product.

 

[Salty seadog]

Yeah. I looked at it and thought, are there Dunkins in the UK? Yes, in New Malden. Oh, no, that's a Krispy Kreme. <google google> Ah, there's one on this A3 in Putney.

Except I don't like donuts, that would have been an effective ad. Even if the donut looks like

Spoiler

goatse

.

Haha, haven't heard mention of that in quite a while.