Thursday, June 25, 2015

Read this post and support the beleaguered masses.

The latest trend in advertising, it seems, is for brands to support something almost wholly unrelated to what they sell.

Lately, I've seen Chobani yogurt for gay cohabitation.

Angel Soft toilet paper for single moms.

And just this morning, something for Lean Cuisine about why weight doesn't matter.

To my mind, these ads are merely a continuation of the wrong-headed notion that brands are worthy of being our friends, worthy of having conversations with, worthy of really being inherent in our lives.

I'm not really buying this tack.

In fact, I'm not really buying anything these days except for perishables.

I bought a new Mac a year ago when my old Mac died. But I bought a product that serves my purposes better than any other, not some false homily.

Likewise, were I to buy something from Lean Cuisine, or Chobani or Angel Soft, it would be because I like their product. Not because I like some cause they're pretending to be supportive of.

My two cents says that "causifying" every commercial is in essence the new laziness, a new expression of the disdain most clients and most agencies have for the products and services they sell.

When Bank of America bombasts out a message on how they support the arts--like free Shakespeare in the Park, I puke a little bit in my mouth. You're a bunch of tax-dodging, law-breaking malefactors of great wealth who almost brought down the world's economy. Keep your hands off of me and fucking "Hamlet."

Rather than inform me, serve me, and give me something that's better, they try to affiliate me to smithereens.

I kind of sick of all this.

And don't believe any of it.



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