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Ads that bug me
Jul. 3rd, 2009 10:10 amThere are currently two radio ad campaigns that annoy me to the point of changing the station.
The first is the current series of Michigan Tourism ads in which a smarmy (though I suspect it's supposed to be "soothing") male voice decries the rat race that makes your life suck or how much better things were in the old days, and then presents a solution in the form of a trip to Michigan, where the air is purer, you can breathe deeper, the lumberjacks are taller, and other shit like that.
Seriously, guys.. if your life sucks as badly as the ads are implying, a weekend in the upper peninsula isn't going to fix it. I realize most of modern advertising relies on convincing you that your life has a giant gaping hole that can only be filled by product X, but, man, Michigan Tourism apparently forgot to read the footnote reading "at least *try* to be subtle".
The second is the Shaw* Festival's "what's wrong with you, you shitty, selfish, horrible person that you won't drive the very short distance to our theatre, here, let me pretend to put in your postal code to reiterate how stupid and shitty you are for not buying tickets" campaign. Seriously? You honestly think scolding me is going to get me into your theatre?
Now, my parents are members at the Shaw, and go down a few times a year. Until I heard this ad campaign, I had a generally good opinion of the festival, based on my parents' enjoyment and general reputation. But now? You couldn't *give* me tickets to a show at the the festival.
Ugh. I know that there are some supremely talented advertising/marketing people out there, who make informative, interesting, and/or funny campaigns. But then there are these chuckleheads who make me want to pull out and nuke the bastards from orbit.
*note that this is my assumption, given that it's theatre in Niagara; I generally turn the station as soon as I hear the voice, so details are sketchy.
The first is the current series of Michigan Tourism ads in which a smarmy (though I suspect it's supposed to be "soothing") male voice decries the rat race that makes your life suck or how much better things were in the old days, and then presents a solution in the form of a trip to Michigan, where the air is purer, you can breathe deeper, the lumberjacks are taller, and other shit like that.
Seriously, guys.. if your life sucks as badly as the ads are implying, a weekend in the upper peninsula isn't going to fix it. I realize most of modern advertising relies on convincing you that your life has a giant gaping hole that can only be filled by product X, but, man, Michigan Tourism apparently forgot to read the footnote reading "at least *try* to be subtle".
The second is the Shaw* Festival's "what's wrong with you, you shitty, selfish, horrible person that you won't drive the very short distance to our theatre, here, let me pretend to put in your postal code to reiterate how stupid and shitty you are for not buying tickets" campaign. Seriously? You honestly think scolding me is going to get me into your theatre?
Now, my parents are members at the Shaw, and go down a few times a year. Until I heard this ad campaign, I had a generally good opinion of the festival, based on my parents' enjoyment and general reputation. But now? You couldn't *give* me tickets to a show at the the festival.
Ugh. I know that there are some supremely talented advertising/marketing people out there, who make informative, interesting, and/or funny campaigns. But then there are these chuckleheads who make me want to pull out and nuke the bastards from orbit.
*note that this is my assumption, given that it's theatre in Niagara; I generally turn the station as soon as I hear the voice, so details are sketchy.
