Has anyone else noticed a recent trend in the world of television advertising? I know that viewers in different physical locations will see different advertisements, depending upon advertising time sold locally by one’s cable company, but it seems to me that no matter where you are, companies have recently been attempting to beat you into submission by playing, replaying and replaying a specific commercial interminably during a particular program. During CFL telecasts this past season, for example, the undisputed worst corporate offender was Wendy’s: their spots featuring a “training knave” who is dispatched to replenish the supply of burger patties, only to discover (evidently crack-addled) actors rehearsing some sort of play in the restaurant’s freezer drove Spouse and I to distraction. It was easy to tell when one of those spots came on at our house, no matter where you were in the building – shouted profanities and the unmistakable sounds of someone leaping for the remote control and the sweet relief offered by the “mute” button were a dead giveaway. Even when you were in the bathroom, you could totally tell when the damn thing was on in this way. Other advertisers have offended using this method as well: Future Shop and its current series featuring the lanky doofus croaking some horrendous song purportedly authored as a Christmas gift for his girl spring to mind, as do any Coors Light ad and those bowel-movement inducing “This is ouuuuuuuuuuuur” country truck advertisements.
During Monday Night Football last night, I saw for the first time a Taco Bell ad in which Dork #1 harasses Dork #2 about the inadequacy of spicing in the fast food that Dork #2 has selected to purchase from Taco Bell (some sort of chipotle-flavoured cat food wrapped in a tortilla). The ad concludes when Dork #1 suffers the indignity of his own fast food purchase (from a fictional competitor) igniting in the paper bag he is holding in his hand. I should perhaps say more accurately that I saw this spot for the first thirty times last night – and then it was halftime.
I can’t understand the thinking behind this ad-buying strategy. If Taco Bell wants to annoy me beyond the bounds of civility and then remind me every six minutes of their institutional policy concerning callous disregard for my continued sanity, well then mission accomplished. What I need to know is why they are doing this to me and what commercial rewards they expect to reap from propelling me into madness. I know that there are some who will say, “Ah, but you REMEMBER the ad; that’s why they do it!” To this, I simply say that I have adopted a firm policy, as of last evening, of purchasing absolutely nothing from Taco Bell unless and until that ad is discontinued. Also, if I flip my lid and lose my job, then I’ll just be wandering the street in a bathrobe muttering about how the radio waves are controlling my mind and – this is important, you “Run for the Border” types – not bringing home the bling, which seriously affects the amount of disposable income I have available to drop on overpriced and under-nutritious foodstuffs.
For me, the continuous re-emergence of this particular commercial last night definitely adversely affected my evening; what was a very entertaining and compelling Monday night tilt between the undefeated Patriots and an insanely motivated bunch of Ravens kept getting intruded upon by the idiotic repetition of this stupid ad, to the point that I was finding it difficult to simply enjoy the game. To be clear, it is not so much the content of the spot that I object to – although the ad is dumb, it would probably be otherwise unremarkable if I didn’t happen to see it something like forty times in a little more than three hours. Yo, Taco Bell, how come you harshin’ on my pigskin buzz?
I know, I know, this is hardly the most controversial topic ever broached, but I need to vent on this subject. Seriously.
Even though I’m on the do-not-call list that doesn’t apply to, say, solicitations for charitable donations or political candidates (or, apparently, to pitches in Mandarin Chinese for long-distance service that I don’t need — if my broken Chinese isn’t enough clue that I don’t practice it …). I listen to the charities and decline contributions; the politicians are callow enough to think that a recorded message is sufficient human contact. I mentally check them OFF my list of possible votes.
I’m running out of people to vote for. Thank god for write-in ballots.
I had a similar experience in the most recent provincial goverment election; soon after the writ was dropped and the campaign officially underway, we got a call at home from someone purporting to represent the New Democratic Party. The caller asked if we were prepared to support the local party candidate and I politely advised that we do not discuss such matters over the telephone with strangers. I then told the caller to please be sure to mark down – in bold, if necessary – on their list of phone numbers not to call us again, failing which we would have no choice but to vote for someone else. We didn’t hear a peep out of them for the rest of the campaign. I saw a great piece on the CBC News a week or two ago about the databases parties are compiling on individual voters and the support/assistance/responses they’ve given to previous solitictations. It made me wonder when we’ll see the first dirty-tricks political scandal – somebody calling voters purporting to be from one party when they’re actually working on behalf of the competition – actively annoying people in an effort to force people into their own candidate’s camp.
Aaaaaaggggghhhhh!!!! Just mentioning that Wendy’s ad makes me froth at the mouth. The thing I don’t understand is that they have a whole collection of really annoying ads — could they not at least mix it up a bit and rotate them? Why do we have to see the SAME one over and over and over again? Aaaaaagggggghhhhhhh!!!!