Over-marketing
One of my pet peeves with society in general is the over-marketing and shoveling of crap down my throat that happens on a daily basis. Take for example this fine Nestle Crunch bar that I bought in one of those Costco mega-packs. It contains something called "Rocket Cash" which prompts you to visit their website, enter your secret code and try to win a prize. Take a moment to visit the Nestle Crunch website right now.
What's the first thing you see? Shaq, and an assload of Flash. And this is a veritable Metric Assload. This website contains all kinds of crap. Sounds, interactive voting for hot-button topics like "car-mel vs. car-a-mel", you name it. God help you if you are actually interested in Nestle Crunch bars. All this makes me wonder - how much money is Nestle spending on this website and all this crap? They're probably keeping a small industry of people busy and paid to create what is essentially CRAP. Totally useless CRAP. CRAP whose appeal ends when you turn 15 years old. On some level, it bothers me that money is being spent on fairly useless promotion like this. It's not necessary to spend a ton of money on Flash and Shaq to sell candy bars. Kids are fairly impressionable, but give them some credit.
Soft drink companies are another big offender. Coke and Pepsi products are literally assaulting your eyes at all hours of the day. I am driven to actively not buy Mountain Dew after being subjected to 2 minute commercials before movies. It doesn't help that these commercials attempt to be funny, but have literally no edge and come off as committee-written "comedy" that can only solicit a smile if you're drunk and will laugh at anything.
I guess what it boils down to is that I like a lot of substance in my advertising. I hate fluff. If you're going to sell me a drink or a burger, do me the favor of at least telling me why, rather than throwing a celebrity and a bunch of non-product related crap my way. And for god's sake, have some quality control with your marketing and give your customers some credit for being intelligent.
Comments
But with marketing like this... You know you want it!
http://jump.iq.com/jump14/pepsi/index.html
And by wanting it, I meant the Pepsi.
Posted by: lyssa | August 4, 2003 09:19 PM
Brad,
I couldn't agree more and I love the way you put it!
During an interview with an advertising executive on TV, I heard one justification for advertising that didn't help me fell any less ill about the current state of advertising. I don't remember the exact words, but he applied a "train momentum" allegory to a given comany's current product sales, and he claimed that without advertising the "train" basically runs out of steam and needs advertising to "keep up the momentum." Ugh.
I wonder how much Coke, for example, would cost if all the monies spent on advertising were applied *directly* to reduce the end-consumer cost?
CK
Posted by: Carsten K | August 5, 2003 03:13 PM