I know there are bright people working in advertising; Mad Men proves that, right? The occasionally brilliant commercial, the kind that you bring up to random individuals and describe in detail, ending with a "god, it's so funny," even though your telling it has stripped it of even the barest whiff of humor, indicates that must be the case. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote ads before he wrote Gatsby, dammit!
So why oh why must there ever be truly abysmal advertising?
I exempt "I own the dealership!" local commercials from this complaint.
On the national level, though, a company has probably hired an ad firm to do their campaign. People have thought about it. They've tested it. They've told the men in charge, around tables in conference rooms, and on conference calls in cubicles, and via documents and power points, that "this is the thing for you." And they've heard "yes, it is," in response.
Millions of dollars, and this is the best you can do?
I've got a proposition: hire me not to make your brilliant ads - I'm sure dues-paying goes into attaining high-level positions in that field - but to screen them. To tell you "hey, this 'heartwarming' thing you're going for is really hitting more on the 'pederast' cylinder," or "you think this is funny, but it's just uncomfortable," or "you might not be feeling 100% about this one, but trust me, the crowd that grows amish-esque facial hair as a style statement will be TOTALLY into it."
I'm waiting for my phone call, money-makers...
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
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