I`ve said it before, and after this weekend`s couch potato marathon, I am compelled to say it again: television advertising in the UK is dire. Either the agencies are scraping the bottom of the talent barrel, or the advertisers have decided to cut costs by leaving the ads up to those generally used to a bit of creativity in their line of work - the accountants.
I often wonder whether the quality of the advertising which appears on digital television is any better than that despoiling the terrestrial TV screens.
Basheera Khan, UK Correspondent, ITWeb
Okay, scratch that last bit; it`s not quite worth the karmic return for mistrusting accountants (although I reserve the right to stay at least 100m away from any of the American variety). Nevertheless, from the look of it, locally produced ads give little thought to humour and ingenuity, preferring instead to play on people`s secret little fears.
It`s petty and distasteful. What`s worse, it`s boring. Generally, you can watch an ad once, deplore it for its lack of any tangible value, and then mentally switch off every time you see it - if the advertisers manage by some stroke of luck not to inadvertently leave the viewer negatively disposed to their product.
I often wonder whether the quality of the advertising which appears on digital television is any better than that despoiling the terrestrial TV screens. If advertisers are intentionally devoting the lion`s share of the budget to advertising on channels that are by nature exclusive to a certain band within the LSM (living standard measure) index, it might afford a reason why so many ads on terrestrial TV suck quite so mightily.
Whatever the reason, there can be little justification for low-budget ad production if the viewer is left with entirely the wrong message in the end.
The latest Vodafone ad, for example, depicts users of that network neglecting their duties in the pursuit of thinking up responses to text messages. To me, this says that Vodafone users are slow-witted, and the time they need to think up clever little text messages results in reduced productivity wherever they are.
Or take the case of the ad for a new yoghurt drink, which plays on people`s fear of being thought of as ignorant. The ad shows a socially inept male nerd convincing a beautiful girl of the need for good bacteria - which of course, one finds in the right sort of drinking yoghurt.
She hasn`t a clue what he`s on about, but as he`s a nerd (and therefore intellectually superior), she takes him on his word, and proceeds to wield the tool of mock horror at her friend`s ignorance of good bacteria. All moral indignations aside, I`m sure it`s an unspoken rule of advertising that one never mentions bacteria unless it`s in relation to a cleaning product - and if it isn`t, it certainly should be!
My point is, the angle these ads take is completely wrong. Advertising should make people feel good about themselves, and encourage them to buy things to perpetuate that sense of wellbeing. Instead, this brand of intimidating consumers into buying products is almost reminiscent of that singularly sadistic teacher (you know the one) who simply relished the prospect of publicly humiliating any and all who pass through the classroom doors. The truly sad thing is that it actually does sell - mainly because people have had their innate intellectual snobbery methodically beaten out of them over the years.
But I suppose it`s not unlike those dreaded pop-up ads on the Net - instead of just accepting the annoyance and proceeding, it`s incredibly easy just to strip them out of your browser window, and so the popularity of blocking apps grows in leaps and bounds.
If television advertising keeps on going the same way here, it will merely strengthen my resolve to buy a Tivo. QED, but that certainly doesn`t solve the advertisers` problem. That, I think, will only come about when UK advertisers cotton on to the strong selling points of quietly confident cleverness and good-natured humour.
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