Ad blog schmad blog

[lunatic59]

I saw an advertisemnt this weekend that put an idea in my head.It was the latest ad from H&R block[heads] where, if you play thier scratch-off game you can win double your tax refund. This struck me as very predatory. Perhaps it is my 20+ years in the advertising business but i see EXACTLYwhat they are trying to do and it, in my opinion, is

Comments

[lunatic59]

Naively spoken. I do agree that any form of logic to explain or expose a commercial's subliminal influence would be wasted on the ignorant, lazy, or uninterested, but i do not think changing the viewing habits of people is either practical or likely. We are increasing people's exposure to ads every day, including on the TV guide channel. In order for people to understand what is being done to them and how they are being influenced, you must first grab their attention. What better way than to propose conspiracy? In fact, at the root definition of the word, "a secret agreement between two or more people to perform an unlawful act", if you remove "unlawful" almost any transaction is a conspiracy. People usually tend to infer that it is perpetrated by large organizations [ie.governments or corporations]against unsuspecting and innocent victims.] That would encompass a large segment of the advertising community.

People in general do not react to reason, they react to fear. For example,if you were to wish to stop someone from smoking would you try and explain the carcinogenic effect to nicotine and the combustion gasses on the cells and membranes of the human body, citing statistics about health and longevity? or would you simply say, if you smoke, you'll die of cancer? It's not that people are too stupid to understand, quite the contrary, but in the first example, there is a possibility that death by cancer is not imminent and therefore gives them the option to rationalize themselves as the lesser of the statistics. Same is true for people who play the lottery and never win. While it is true that somebody WILL win, the likelihood that it will be you is infinitesimally remote. But people still hope and believe every day, and the lottery commission [as well as the casinos] showing big payoffs put the idea in people's mind that it is a greater possibility than it really is.

[monkeymetz]

So perhaps there is a way to cater to peoples' fears by making them afraid to be afraid. In other words, create a commercial that calls on peoples' naivety about logic and shows some sort of truth. I know this has been attempted before, but not effectively. I wonder if there is an effective way to do this. hmm... Haven't quite figured it out yet... Sort of like a political counterattack based on truth....