BS: Bad Advertising?

Subject: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 07:58 PM

A few years ago Gerald Ratner, head of Ratners Jewellers said at an after dinner speech "I'm suprised we are so busy, as all the stuff we sell is crap"

Also, the boss of a chain of menswear shops said "All are suits are crap, and are only worn by thugs for thier court appearnce", not sure , but I think it was the boss of Top Man [a big UK menswear chain].

any others?

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: Peace
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 08:03 PM

President Bush speaking on behalf of Americans.

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: Blissfully Ignorant
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 08:06 PM

Have you seen the Ocean Finance adverts? Actors pretending to be 'recent satisfied customers'...nothing new, but these actors are portraying idiots... Now, if a company can sell it's product by having idiots reccomend it, what the hell does that say about the folk buying it?

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: Peace
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 08:11 PM

There are two rules for plumbers that I have heard. Same in the advertising world, IMO.

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 08:44 PM

B.I. -

The "ads for idiots" quite likely were carefully composed after extensive market research to identify those most likely to spend money on the product. Good market research can be amazingly accurate in targeting advertising where it will do the most "good."

Advertising, of the common kinds, works ONLY because there ARE a lot of idiots with money.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: Blissfully Ignorant
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 08:58 PM

That's what worries me...

Ocean Finance is one of those 'Get out of debt-by getting into more debt!!!' companies.

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: Dead Horse
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 11:47 PM

Hitlers Goose Step. Bad idea. All the goose loving countries of the world decided they didnt want gooses being stepped on, and war was declared. Imitating Charlie Chaplin was a bad idea too. Made Hitler a laughing stock.

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 07:30 AM

'Choice' the magazine of the Australian COnsumers Assn shows odd adverts on it's back cover. The only examples I can think of are the one with a big sale sticker saying $29.95 but original price of $24.95 in the body of the text, and the one with a pic of a shoe, when the body of ad says the clothing sale EXCLUDES shoes.

These ads can be examples of sloppy editing, or stupidity on the part of the advertiser, or examples of warnings and instructions written by folks who do not speak/read English.

Members send in ads they have seen & innocent merriment is provoked in readers. I always read this page before turning to the serious articles & will really miss it when our Library subscription ends soon due to a huge budget cut.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: GUEST,Mr Red who knows little of self-advertisemen
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 07:48 AM

Ah! Does no one remember the Strand cigarette ads? carefully researched and skilfully executed, they got everyone talking about the solitary man and the catch-phrase "You're never alone with a Strand"

No-one bothered to figure-out that the target audience would know the product but not want to be seen as a sad and lonely git any time they got out a packet of that product.

Now, a Jewish tailor, in his will, left his business to his three sons. After much argument they split it 3 ways with 3 entrances, one displayed "the best Tailor in town", the second said "the best Tailor in the country" and the third said "ENTRANCE"

There is clever and there is smart.

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: Rapparee
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 09:11 AM

There's the classic mistake General Motors made in the 1970s when they tried to market the Chevrolet Nova in Central America: "No va" is Spanish for "Doesn't go."

It wasn't an ad, but Chevrolet also blew it in the '70s with the engineering on the first versions of the Monza. To change all the spark plugs you had to remove the engine from the car.

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: GUEST,KB
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 10:08 AM

Remember "nothing works faster than Anadin" (ad for headache pills).
Ok then - I'll use nothing.

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: GUEST,Mingulay
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 11:31 AM

Solly Goldberg died. His widows' friends told her she should put an ad in the Jewish Chronicle to this effect. At some length she agreed and phoned the classifieds with her entry "Goldberg dead". Upon being told that the minimum length was 5 words she thought for a moment and changed it to "Goldberg dead, Volvo for sale".

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: GUEST,Chief Chaos
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 11:58 AM

A few years ago one of the car companies used a snippet of one of Jethro Tull's songs. The impression it left me with was that you had to be "Thick As A Brick" to buy this car!

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 12:04 PM

Desole, je parle seulement francais!

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 12:25 PM

Russian car company Lada imported a car called the Riva to England, it didn't sell too well, as Riva means "heap of shit" in English.

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: Chris Green
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 01:06 PM

There was Coke's advertising campaign in Romania. The slogan was "Coca-Cola Brings You To Life!" However, it got mistranslated somewhere along the line with the result that billboards went up all over the country saying "Coca-Cola Brings Your Ancestors Back From The Grave!"

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: Michael
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 01:42 PM

There used to be an ad for LUX bath soap'Nine out of ten film stars use LUX', even as a child I knew that was bollocks and assumed that they couldn't find 10 who did.

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: Chris Green
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 02:17 PM

On a more serious note, the worst example of advertising in recent times has to be the spate of Michael Winner Esure ads ("Calm down, dear, it's a commercial.") I have made a vow that even if Esure ring me and offer to pay me £1000 per annum for the privilege of insuring my vehicle I will still tell them to sod off and die in a ditch!

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: Nerd
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 02:48 PM

Actually, the No Va thing is just an oft-told tale. The Nova was marketed in Mexico and Venezuela and did just fine.

People who speak Spanish are just as aware of their Language's Latin roots as English-speakers (more so, in fact), and would immediately recognize "Nova" for what it was: a form of the Latin root for "new." In fact, "Nova" is used as a brand name in Spanish all the time, and is one of most popular brands of gasoline in Mexico. Also, "va" is not how you would describe a working car in idiomatic Spanish. You would say "no marcha," "no camina," etc. Finally, think about it: if you saw a furniture shop called "Notable Furniture," would you assume it sold no tables? Or if you saw a series of readings by "notable poets and writers" would you assume they were not able poets and writers? That's the same mistake a Mexican would have to make to understand "Nova" as "no va."

I have heard the ancestors tale told about the slogan "come alive with the Pepsi Generation" translated into Chinese. I suspect it, too, is just a fanciful tale, but Pepsi and Coke both did have Chinese people coming up with hilarious names for awhile (famously, "Bite the Wax Tadpole" for Coca Cola) until they both came up with official "translations" or sound-alike phrases for "Coca Cola" and "Pepsi Cola," which are "Allowing the Mouth to Rejoice" (Coke) and "100 Ways to achieve good luck" (Pepsi).

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 02:59 PM

The Strand adverts were brilliant in themselves, and are still remembered 45 years later, with the slogan. If you scroll down this page there's a bit about them, with a photo, and a video link that won't work for me:

The actor was Terence Brooks who looked like Frank Sinatra, standing on a street in London, wearing a trench coat, with a hat on the back of his head, stopping to light a cigarette. Them the theme came on. As soon as the commercial went on the air, enquiries started coming in, people ringing up and asking if there was a record of the music available. So Cliff Adams quickly went to a studio and recorded "The Lonely Man Theme". There was no vocal and nothing mentioned about cigarettes, just the musical theme.

Only trouble was, they didn't do anything at all to increase the sales of Strand cigarettes, the reverse in fact. It probably didn't help that they were pretty terrible ciggies - but the consensus was that the real problem was people didn't want to feel that by buying Strands they were saying that they were lonely buggers who couldn't make friends.

Any number of adverts where you can remember the advert in detail, but just can't recall what the product was. But with the Strand advert it wasn't like that - you remembered the ad, and you remembered the brand, but you just didn't want to be associated with the image when you were buying ciggies.

So you watched the advert, and identified with the guy in the advert, looking so cool smoking on his own, and you even made like him, when you were out on your own - but you used another brand of ciggie to do it, one you didn't feel embarassed to buy.

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: Mr Red
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 05:26 PM

Sir jOhn

Hull is a Riva in North Humberside but that don't mean it is a heap of shit.

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: GUEST,Chief Chaos
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 08:36 PM

Does David Eddings know that his king of the western kingdoms presides from his throne in the city of "Pile of Shit" (Riva)

(The Bellgarion series / The Mallorean Series, others)

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: Amos
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 08:41 PM

John:

That's the funniest thing you have ever said.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: annamill
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 09:02 PM

Marketing class I took had some remarkable marketing ideas that were amazing to me.

Betty Crocker ( I think it was this one) came out with the first boxed cake mix and they had a heck of a time selling it because everyone at the time made their own and the idea of a boxed mix just didn't go.

Some genius came up with the idea of adding one egg to the mix. Off it went and today we still add one egg to the mix. Marketing genius.

Another one, you can test for yourself, in the USA anyway, is Wonder Bread. They put the smell of fresh baked bread into the wrapper. When you pick it up you smell fresh baked bread. Marketing Genius. Terrible bread, but wonderful marketing.

I can't remember any others but there were more along this line.

Annamill

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: GUEST,Elfcall
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 09:23 AM

I saw this on a reputable charity website this week

Far-sighted Chief Executive, The Hampshire Association for the Care of the Blind, Hampshire, £35K+

Elfcall

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: GUEST,Chief Chaos
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 12:06 PM

Marketing genius!

Try going past a Krispy Kreme Doughnuts or a Burger King with the aromas of fresh products being vented down onto street level instead of up a stack!

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: SINSULL
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 12:19 PM

brucie,
Bush speaking out on behalf of the American people is false advertising as well as bad.
SINS

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: JennyO
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 10:34 AM

Now here's an interesting site with a point to make! I think it's worth posting some of what they have to say, in case the link doesn't last.


Shelf Life, a new book by Rosie Walford with with Paula Benson and Paul West, celebrates the unusual, the eccentric, the exotic and the erotic in product brands. Underlying the pure entertainment value of bilingual double-entendres like Cocagne sardines is a more serious observation. Diversity and originality in product design – of which brand is only the most obvious, visible sign – is being strangled, and rapidly, by the tentacles of the global megacorps. The amusing packets, tins, boxes and bottles featured in Shelf Life are ordinary household groceries loved by shoppers from Antwerp to Zanzibar. More characterful than any global mega-brand, these local goods don't kowtow to foreign marketing concerns. Instead, they bring intrigue to supermarket shopping, promising rudeness and delight at the bleakest of foreign stalls. And they don't give a damn what we English speakers think.

Most English speaking manufacturers can't stand being misunderstood. Mitsubishi rushed to change the Pajero ('wanker') to Montero and re-brand the Nova ('doesn't go') for Spanish-speaking markets, Microsoft found a less figurative translation than 'tiny and flaccid' for China before it went live.

By contrast, the brands you see here have maintained the courage of their convictions. They proudly proclaim their identity with starbursts, drop shadows, logos as vivid as their designers could create. But sadly, the days of such joyful product diversity are numbered. Creamy Fingers biscuits have been whipped off the market; Puke playing cards can no longer be found. What a shame! Right now, we're at a point in history where unregulated money flows mean we are starting to get the same 'consumer experience' wherever we get off a plane. Supermarkets are eradicating unique local shops and creeping across national boundaries (exit the channel tunnel, et voila! Le Tesco, proud recipient of one in every seven pounds spent in the UK). Simultaneously, transnational manufacturers are busy spreading their formulas worldwide. Quirky individuality is endangered.

You're more likely to yawn at another tin of John West on your holiday, than to discover Cocagne sardines, Atum Bom tuna, or some other funny fish. While we prize individuality, the possibility of actually finding unique and distinctive products fades day by day. Bra milk, for example, is no longer available in Sweden. Instead, we can shop with long faces, and return home only with Natur.

Economies of scale are kicking in and it's the transferable brands which can afford to hog shelf space in those big, handy shops. Supermarkets, already exerting a stranglehold over food producers, also require their branded suppliers to prove huge expenditure on ad campaigns if they are to be given distribution. What hope for the proud Polish owner of Barf, however soapy his suds?


Their picture gallery is here and includes such beauties as "Climax" toilet block, "Cocagne" sardines and "Hardon" Tea.

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: GUEST,666
Date: 19 Nov 04 - 10:42 AM

http://www.angelfire.com/md2/customviolins/perfumecollection.jpg

Subject: RE: BS: Bad Advertising?
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 01:53 PM