Once again, I sat in front of the TV, bored to tears by the so-called "Super Bowl." I love professional football, but more often than not, the Super Bowl doesn't rise to the occassion. In fact, I find myself more interested in the commercials than anything.
For awhile now, I've been wondering just what is going on in the ad world. Ads try to be one of two things most of the time: sexy or funny. Most are neither, and fall into the crude and silly category.
I call it the Super Bowl Effect. In years past, Super Bowl ads were the benchmark of the industry. If you were on the Super Bowl, you had to make an impact, and most of the time, the funny ads were the ones that people liked the most.
So now every ad tries to be a Super Bowl ad. But humor can only get you so far.
I thought that this year's crop of ads were pretty uneventful. The "Office Linebacker" (for whom I can't remember the sponsor) and the Bud Light "Zebra" commercials stood out. But that's it.
Advertisers seem to have forgotten the #1 Rule of Advertising. And that is to identify your product withing three seconds. Most ads these days seem to want to make you guess as to what the product is. Rule #2, at least in my book, is not to confuse the viewer. Here is a classic example of breaking this rule. Cadillac has been running a campaign now for well over a year with the tag line "Break Through." So what's the theme song? "Rock 'n Roll" by Led Zeppelin. I guess The Doors weren't selling song rights or something. The Cadillac campaign is actually quite well done, but it bugs me every time I hear that song. I just know that tag line is coming, and it throws it all out of balance for me.
Advertising used to be funny, smart, and, at times, poignant. Where have those days gone?