Tweet

Bonehead Advertising Ploys

Written by: Robert Whipple

Article Overview: If you really listen to the advertisements on TV, you can either get a lot of entertainment or get pretty sick. The material is full of claims that actually lower the trust in the product or service being sold. Sometimes I wonder who thinks up this garbage. If the objective is to get us to buy more, then why do the moguls of advertising put out this material?

Bonehead Advertising Ploys

We are bombarded with advertising in every media segment of our lives. This article will focus on television advertising. It will describe some of the annoying things that are on the air every day that we sometimes fail to recognize. There should be a direct relationship between advertisements and trust in the product being promoted. Unfortunately, in many cases the correlation is negative. Even though I watch less than 2 hours of TV a day (mostly news), there is still way too much advertising garbage parading before my eyes and ears. I have to use some of the peptic-soothing preparations they espouse - maybe that's their ploy. The advertisements make you sick, then they suggest a remedy. Here are just a few of the ridiculous things I observed today.

1. "I am a non-attorney spokesperson." What idiot thought up this opening remark? If the purpose of an advertisement is to encourage us to purchase the product or service being touted, does it make any sense to start out any commercial with these words? Can the advertising morons not see that doing this will reduce our trust in the service, thus making us much less likely for us to buy?

2. The fine print. If an advertisement has those familiar bands of fine print that are impossible to read, how does that reflect on our perception of the product being sold? Are we actually supposed to read the material in the 3 seconds provided? Of course not! Then why have it there at all? It only serves to reduce our trust in the product. The not-too-subconscious message is "what are they hiding"?

3. Stupid claims. One of my favorites is for an automobile insurance coverage. The idiot on the screen seems surprised when the announced says, "...and we will not drop you after an accident." He says, "Seriously, you won't drop me"? Like Wow! Isn't that terrific? If that statement convinces you that things will be the same after an accident, I have a bridge I want to sell you. Yes, they will not drop you, they will just triple your premiums and soak you till you are forced to drop them.

4. Disgusting content. When the Phlegm Man is expelled out of the lungs after taking some decongestant, it is pretty disgusting. So why do they have to show that commercial during the lunch or dinner hour. Some of us are eating here! The same goes for Digger the Dermatophyte who peels back the nail of your big toe to crawl under it. That one always gives me the creeps.

5. Totally misleading. When the life insurance man says "...and your rate will never go up due to age," doesn't that automatically imply that it will go up for some other reason, like maybe they needed more profit that year.

6. Free oil changes for life. Wow, is that ever a bonanza? No! Those of us who fell for that line ended up spending huge sums of money for maintenance that was not needed in the end. My daughter was nearly killed when they pumped up the pressure in her tires to such a high level that she had a blowout just a few weeks before they would have had to replace her worn-out tires for free. Because the tire blew, I had to pay for the replacement and, of course, had to buy two since it is never recommended to buy just one tire. I know most people who have tried the free oil changes have found that they are the opposite of free.

7. Call this number right now and we will send you your very own free information kit. Come on folks, it is called an advertisement! Who falls for this stuff?

8. "But wait... if you order in the next 10 minutes we will throw in a second ceramic knife for free - just pay shipping and handling." Is there a person on earth who believes there are operators standing by with stop watches?

These were just the examples from the ads during my lunch break today. How can I have much respect for the Madison Avenue simpletons? Advertisements should bring about an increase in the level of trust we have in a product or service, not the opposite.

Related Articles
  Leadership Assessment #15 – Make Good Decisions
  Is Online Advertising Cost Effective?
  Advertising And PR Guidelines In All Forms Of Media
  Lesson #4: Low Risk Means Low Rewards
  Advertising: The Nuts And Bolts Of Making It Work: Step Three: Make sure your advertising is specific, has substance and is credible

Article Tags: Advertising, Madison Avenue, Marketing, Selling, Trust



Related Forum Posts
Top 19 Copywriting books - 1. Ogilvy on Advertising. David Ogilvy. Wiley. 2. Positioning: The Battle for your Mind. Al Ries and Jack Trout. Warner. 3. The New Positioning. Jack Trout. McGraw-Hill. 4. Tested Advertising Methods. John Caples. Prentice-Hall. 5. How to Make your Advertising Make Money. John Caples. Prentice-Hall. 6. Guerrilla Advertising. Jay Conrad Levinson. Houghton Mifflin. 7. Direct Mail Copy that Sells. Herschell Gordon Lewis. Prentice-Hall. 8. Sales Letters that Sizzle. Herschell Gordon Lewis. NTC Business Books. 9. Herschell Gordon Lewis on the Art of Writing Copy. Herschell Gordon Lewis. Prentice-Hall. 10. Romancing the Brand. David Martin. American Management Association. 11. The Art of Writing Advertising: Conversations with William Bernbach, Leo Burnett, George Gribbin, David Ogilvy, Rosser Reeves. NTC Business Books. 12. Confessions of an Advertising Man. David Ogilvy. NTC Business Books. 13. My Life in Advertising. Claude Hopkins. NTC Business Books. 14. Scientific Advertising. Claude Hopkins. NTC Business Books. 15. How to Become an Advertising Man. James Webb Young. NTC Business Books. 16. The Lasker Story as He Told It. NTC Business Books. 17. Advertising Concept and Copy. George Felton. Prentice Hall. 18. The Copy WorkShop Workbook. Bruce Bendinger. The Copy Workshop. 19. Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads. Luke Sullivan. Wiley. This should keep you busy for at least a year. Enjoy!
Ideas for developing my business - Advertising is the life-blood of any magazine. Get some advertisers and you're set. You've got your target market, now start working on the "buzz" around the mag.
Good Adwords Books? - I've just purchased "Ultimate Guide to Pay-Per-Click Advertising" by Richard Stokes. Has anyone read it, and if so what do you think? Does anyone have any other recommendations for books relating to Adwords? Thanks,
Re: Why Some Websites Sell and Others Don’t? - There is myth that if you build websites people will come. It is never through, you need to do a lot of things to make your website to work. You have many models of attracting traffics to your site. PPC Article Marketing SEO Press Release Banner Ads Forum Posting Classified Advertising Media Buying Solo Ads and a lot of more. If you are not doing any of the above your websites will just be one of the millions of the unknown sites in cyber space
New Idea...suggestions please - The one concern I would have is if your revenue is solely based off of advertising, would there be enough to pay out to people and make a profit? Advertising is way over-rated online. Most people don't make as much as they thought they would. good idea, but like you said, there are some kinks that would need to be worked out. There are some other complications too, I'm in a hurry at the moment. I do have experience starting businesses in these two industries (self help and affiliate programs / opportunities) that you are describing. If you want more of my thoughts, just send me a message and I'll get back to you later.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

B2B PR – Planning for Success

How To Be A Management Legend

What If You Had a 100% Success Rate?

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.