So, today has been a great Sunday. We went to church. We watched the Vikings. (they lost. boo!) We went looking at sweet cars. We did some housecleaning. We watched ridiculous videos of Chuck Norris and Randy Moss doing things that are otherwordly. We even ate at Burger King. But the most important accomplishment of the day came while we watched commercials.
We thoroughly dissected each commercial we watched and tried to figure out what the people who made it were thinking when they made the commercial. We realized that all that they want to do is make us think or act in a way to make us buy their product. We realized that there are four ways advertising executives try to make us think their way. Let's explore, shall we?
1) The first, and probably most effective way is what we like to call Stating the Facts. By this, we mean showing us the cool things that their product can do or telling us about a great deal or sale going on for this product or store. This is pretty straightforward. They have something we want or think would be nice to have and make us want to get it based on the facts. Usually, the companies will use fancy graphics to illustrate these facts. To us this is the best way to get someone to want to buy something. Unless, of course these companies use stupid facts that don't make any sense at all. Take this TV commercial we have seen. The commercial begins with this dude who says that sometimes, it seems like you need to be a rocket scientist or nuclear physicist or something to buy a TV. "Luckily, I am one," he says. Wait, wait. Why can't normal people buy a TV? What makes you so much better than, say, someone who works at McDonalds? Actually, because you are so busy looking at atoms and molecules or doing whatever you do, someone who does work at McDonalds probably watches a lot more TV than you and has a way better idea of which TV to buy than you. This is the main flaw of stating the facts.
2) The second way is called Selling a Lifestyle. Sometimes, commercials try to target people by getting them to buy into a way of life, and by buying this product you are becoming like these people. Think when you are watching an Applebees commercial, and everyone's happy because they're at Applebees, and the foods good, the atmosphere is good, and the people working there are happy to serve and nobody has any complaints. Or think of beer commercials. Now, not all beer commercials target the same lifestyle, but it's the same logic. Think like when all the "guys" get together to watch "the game" and they're drinking this beer. It's a part of their lifestyle. These guys drink beer and watch TV, and it's yours if you buy this beer. Oh yeah, they also get all the chicks. It's a classic lifestyle commercial example. See, the thing is that a lifestyle can't be made by some product. If I had this lifestyle with my awesome grill, and used it to grill out, and spent all day waiting to get to my grill, then, you wouldn't do too well in other things. Lifestyle's shouldn't be built around products, it should be built around morals and beliefs.
3) The third stop in out tour of the main 4 ways commercials appeal to people is Presenting Situations Where You Need This Product. Take, for example, those cell phone commercials for A T & T where these people needed to get a phone call from someone to avoid a bad situation. And they don't have the network being sold in this commercial, so they don't get any reception. The problem with this is, these people are like at restaurants and their houses, and it's ridiculous to assume there is no cell phone coverage there. And the even worse assumption is that these people wouldn't be on an extended network, because if for some reason they didn't have coverage but tour network were there, they would still be able to make calls on your network. Usually these commercials present really, really, really ridiculous situations. That's the main problem. If they present a situation where your product is the only possible solution, then people will buy it. But that's usually not the case. You want another example? Ok, how about the ones where this guy has this USB device that allows him to connect to the internet by cell phone networks, and he is in Antartica or in the middle of the jungle, and he needs to use the internet. Then he says "I'm Bill Curtis, and I just found the internet." But why do you need to use the internet so bad in these places? Can't you stay in a hotel, or do you need to be sitting in the middle of a field and use your computer? Just ridiculous.
4) The fourth and final way ad execs try to make YOU buy a product is where they try to Make You Laugh, then stamp their name on the commercial, for no real reason. One example is the Geico caveman commercials. I know that they have the whole 'so easy a caveman can do it' slogan, but the commercials are designed to get you to laugh (which, after approximately 1,238 different caveman related commercials, is no longer possible), and doesn't have much to do with the product, even with the whole slogan. The bottom line is MAKE YOUR COMMERCIAL FUNNY! Most of the time, these don't make people laugh, but some do, and thank you ad execs who do make a quality Make You Laugh commercial.
It should be noted that some commercials will combine these strategies to try and use all the advantages they come with. We can also think of a few other ideas that get used, they just aren't used as much as the four above. Sympathetic commercials, usually involving kids or puppies, can be shown to make you feel like your doing a service to these sympathetic characters by buying the product. There are also seasonal commercials, and these can involve holidays or times of the year, such as commercials urging you to buy certain products because they would make a great gift. These will usually be shown much to early to try and get into a holiday or seasonal frenzy, and then you just go crazy and forget its still months to the actual holiday or season. This can become a problem. Another one is celebrity endorsed commercials, but these are pretty self explanatory. I also suppose that there are real people who have used this product and it worked, but that could fall into Stating the Facts.
Another tactic, one we could put into the main points but it's so obvious that no one can really be fooled by these commercials, and you could make an argument that it will fall into the Presenting Situations where you need this product. This is what we like to call 'It's common knowledge that we are in fact the best brand or store. One example of this is the Jared: Galleria of Jewelry commercials, where buying jewelry from Jared's means that you just love her more, and everyone recognizes that 'He went to Jared.' This is so obvious, it doesn't even deserve it's own category.
Now, there's one more category that we have a special place in out heart about. These are car commercials. Car commercials have exactly no thought put into the making of them. They usually involve a car doing something that it can't actually do, something amazing. Some don't even go that far! Car commercials usually have some lame one-liner at the end, too. There's this one commercial we have a really big beef with, for the Cadillac CTS. This commercial has a woman driving through a town, and it's apparently going at the speed of light. Now, this woman is talking about all the features that this car has, but at the end she states that it's not all about that. "The real question is, when you turn your car on, does it return the favor?" Uh.....does my car get me where I need to go? Yes. It doesn't need to turn me on. That's not what it's for. Or the one where the where the truck drives on a track, and two giant hammers swing at it. Why on earth would drive in the direction of the hammers?!?! Like I said, no thought whatsoever.
The bottom line is, don't be fooled by ridiculous commercials. They usually are complete dramatizations and they think that they are fooling you into buying their product. Just be smart about commercial watching, and feel free to use that TiVo.
We also feel we should update on an important decision we made today, and ironically, it's the last important decision we will ever make on a Sunday. We decided that we will no longer make stressful, important decisions on Sundays. If it's good for God to take a day off, it's certainly good enough for us. (It's also a commandment. Thou shalt honor the Sabbath) We are decreeing that Sundays are for watching TV, especially football, and when football season's over, we will rent movies and TV shows to pass the day. We hope you all decide to join us in this awesome philosophy.
Now, there's one more category that we have a special place in out heart about. These are car commercials. Car commercials have exactly no thought put into the making of them. They usually involve a car doing something that it can't actually do, something amazing. Some don't even go that far! Car commercials usually have some lame one-liner at the end, too. There's this one commercial we have a really big beef with, for the Cadillac CTS. This commercial has a woman driving through a town, and it's apparently going at the speed of light. Now, this woman is talking about all the features that this car has, but at the end she states that it's not all about that. "The real question is, when you turn your car on, does it return the favor?" Uh.....does my car get me where I need to go? Yes. It doesn't need to turn me on. That's not what it's for. Or the one where the where the truck drives on a track, and two giant hammers swing at it. Why on earth would drive in the direction of the hammers?!?! Like I said, no thought whatsoever.
The bottom line is, don't be fooled by ridiculous commercials. They usually are complete dramatizations and they think that they are fooling you into buying their product. Just be smart about commercial watching, and feel free to use that TiVo.
We also feel we should update on an important decision we made today, and ironically, it's the last important decision we will ever make on a Sunday. We decided that we will no longer make stressful, important decisions on Sundays. If it's good for God to take a day off, it's certainly good enough for us. (It's also a commandment. Thou shalt honor the Sabbath) We are decreeing that Sundays are for watching TV, especially football, and when football season's over, we will rent movies and TV shows to pass the day. We hope you all decide to join us in this awesome philosophy.
Cordially,
Da Ranch!!!!!!
