Am I Overly Cynical Here? (One Example)

[Chainsaw]

OK, here's a video for a commercial playing in my home state of NY trying to get people to switch to CFL bulbs to save money.



Now, I have watched this spot several times on TV, and every time I do...I get angry. It feel like it represents everything I hate about promotion and ad companies. I've worked in promotion before, and it feels like it was put together by a friggin' focus group. It's like a laundry list of things that are utterly insincere.

-Hip rock band full of kids in the basement "performing" a horrible jingle
-Hip cool text reminiscent of the Sex Pistols
-Doofus spokesperson mugging for the camera
-Talking animals
-People celebrating and getting all excited over...light bulbs
-Goofy joke with old people (how many butlers does it take to screw in a light bulb...along with comically speeding up the footage)
- In fact, there's a lot of sped up footage in it...ugh.

I'm pointing this out, because I'm wondering if this feeling makes me too cynical to how things are portrayed in commercials. I know there needs to be a certain appeal to people...let's face it, getting people to switch lightbulbs is not the sexiest topic in the world...but there's just something about commercials like this that makes me feel like they're trying too hard. If I was a part of the creative process of that spot, I'd be denying I had anything to do with it.

But yeah, to repeat...am I being too cynical here?

[Non Banjoble Tokens]

You're not being overly cynical. That was one of the stupidest-ass commercials I've ever seen.

[jobsquad]

I'm the same way. Stuff like this makes us all look stupid. Well, I believe 8 out of 10 are that stupid, thus the need for stuff like this, but I digress.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

I can pay 45 cents for 4 regular bulbs or $10 for one CF bulb.

Hmmmmmmm. Sure, I'm spending 455% more for the CG bulb, but I'll save 12 cents per utility bill.....pfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffft.

[Father Dougal McGuire]

The goal of any advertising company is to make an impression on you, positive or negative. At least it wasn't as bad as the truth anti smoking ads.

[default]

And the thing is, CFL's pale in comparison to LED lightbulbs. (Oh, and LED lightbulbs are fairly reasonable priced if you look around. The local Wal-Mart here carries them, although barely any of the others in the area do.) My dad and I switched out a few in our house already.

[Red Impact]

No, that was an awful commercial. As soon as the lyrics came "we're changing the future" I rolled my eyes and new it was just going to go downhill.

[Chainsaw]

Oh, thank god. I thought my cynicism had finally hit it's tipping point. Thank god, there's others out there like me!

[Mr. Backlund]

I'm subjected to those commercials and share your viewpoint. New York State doesn't do anything particularly well, besides brag about itself, so I just chalked up the commercial as another failure in a long line of it in NY.

Worse, those TRUTH ads that tell us how smoking will kill us if we are within 200 yards of a smoker have made me strongly consider taking up the habit just because of my pure disgust in their advertising campaign.

That said, I definitely agree that transparent ads like this and the TRUTH BS really have a negative impact on your view of what they're pushing and annoy you to the point where a valuable message is lost due to the inability of the originator of the message.

[Chainsaw]

Mar 14, 2010 12:31:25 GMT -5 Mr. Backlund said:

I'm subjected to those commercials and share your viewpoint. New York State doesn't do anything particularly well, besides brag about itself, so I just chalked up the commercial as another failure in a long line of it in NY.

Worse, those TRUTH ads that tell us how smoking will kill us if we are within 200 yards of a smoker have made me strongly consider taking up the habit just because of my pure disgust in their advertising campaign.

That said, I definitely agree that transparent ads like this and the TRUTH BS really have a negative impact on your view of what they're pushing and annoy you to the point where a valuable message is lost due to the inability of the originator of the message.

The funny thing is, those TRUTH ads are funded for the most part by the cigarette companies, as part of the lawsuit brought up against them. I don't know how much control they have over the content, but it almost makes you wonder if they purposefully had the people who made those commercials make them so aggrandizing and blunt just to make people consider taking up smoking in an act of retaliation. Kind of a mass experiment in reverse psychology.

[Red Impact]

I don't mind the Truth ads that much. They may be over the top, but they aren't as smug as a commercial about changing a fricken' light bulb.

[Mr. Backlund]

Mar 14, 2010 13:48:39 GMT -5 Red Impact said:

I don't mind the Truth ads that much. They may be over the top, but they aren't as smug as a commercial about changing a fricken' light bulb.

I agree getting excited over a light bulb is a bit much, but this is basically the definition of smug.....

"HEY PEOPLE WHO ARE GAINFULLY EMPLOYED BY A COMPANY AND LIKELY HAVE NO DIRECT LINK TO WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT! YOU KILLED THESE PEOPLE! THEY HAD NO SAY IN THE MATTER, YOU MAY HAVE WELL AS PULLED THE TRIGGER BASTARDS!"

Just get back to cutting open a human brains around when I eat dinner and show me what an aneurysm caused by smoking looks like Anti-Smokers. At least then its just a doctor carving a brain up as I enjoy dinner, not a hip, 20-something with a megaphone and too much time on his hands......