<p>Not a single political ad this morning. Sigh.</p>
<p>Here’s one of my favorite political ads from a couple of years ago. First time I saw it I thought it was a spoof… like something from Saturday Night Live. It was a real ad; it was entertaining, but it wasn’t entirely effective…Dale lost the election!</p>
<p>[We</a> are Better than That!!! - YouTube](<a href=“We are Better than That!!!!! - YouTube”>We are Better than That!!!!! - YouTube)</p>
<p>The TV / Radio business has been very good this year. What are we at? A billion, 2 billion in spending? </p>
<p>Think about how markets work. We tend to confuse what we want as being what markets will deliver. That is, we confuse our sense of optimal with what markets actually do, which is deliver optimal market processes, assuming efficiencies, etc. </p>
<p>The political ad market turns out to be closer to the 19thC drug ad market: unregulated advertising had no check because the market rewarded lying about what your medicine could do. (In those days, there was no real tort system so the risk of legal penalty was mostly limited to selling actual poison. And even then, the risk was relatively low, if you get into the cases.) Lots of people believe that markets should generate better information but the market doesn’t care what we want. In the case of political ads, if you lie, the worst that happens is you lose. You can lie again next election. Maybe you did better because you lied. Maybe you won because you lied. No penalty. </p>
<p>This isn’t about politics so much as about markets. The TV/radio stations have no incentive to cover races by “fact checking” each ad. They make money from these ads. They are minting cash this year because of these ads. The more lying ads the better for them, yet they are the ones who convey information about the quality of those ads. That market corrective barely exists in this case. I haven’t yet seen an ad accusing a candidate of wife beating or child molestation - like the old SNL parody - so the market corrective seems to be similar to that which existed in the 19thC, that you can’t sell actual poison but everything else is ok.</p>
<p>
Thanks for reminding me that it’ll simply segue from heavy political ads into heavy Christmas ads.</p>
<p>Ready for the Chia pet ads yet (and ‘The Clapper’ and the Ronco-esque ads)?</p>
<p>^Get up and run stairs or do sit ups or take garbage out or check your alundry or pack your lunch or…whatever tons of other things could be done to avoid watchin commercials if you are too lazy (like me) to switch chanells because I will not know which channel to come back to and because I have to wash my hands for that as I am doing something else. In my case I do not need to do any of that most of the time, I simply do not pay attention. If I am in bed and use TV as a sleeping pill, then commercial is my little nap time and sometime I will continue sleeping after it finishes which is the purpose of TV in a bedroom anyway. Yesterday fell asleep watching “Magic Mike” without any commercial. Will try to finish watchin today, probably will fall asleep again. They decided that nobody have seen male bodies, there is not much going on in a movie besides showing off nice male bodies, I suppose I am way too old or maybe I go on a beach vacation every year, this is it. Beach vacations are better alternative!!!</p>
<p>Just ran into Sears xmas ad.</p>
<p>Just saw the insurance company ad with the watermelon smasher. Not sure I get it.</p>
<p>^^ Gallagher is a comedian who smashes watermelons - and is happy when he’s doing so.</p>
<p>I don’t like the “happy as …” commercials because they’re not clever. If you’re trying to be clever, you actually need to be clever. Happy as a witch in a broom factory is not funny. Who the heck cares who Gallagher is anymore? And if you remember his act, you know he wasn’t crazy but worked watermelon smashing in as part of the routine. The ad shows him as just insane, which is wrong. </p>
<p>I like the crazy Target lady. Target knows how to do it: she’s ridiculously over the top but they cast her really well - she’s a comedian, I believe - and they shoot the ads in an over-the-top manner that makes them surreal. </p>
<p>If it’s Xmas ads, the ones I hate are the big companies talking about the true meaning of Christmas. Phony. Phony. Phony. A few hit the right sentiment but most come off as “the true meaning of Christmas is buying our stuff.”</p>
<p>The Volkswagen bulldog is my favorite ad of the year:</p>
<p>[VW</a> Jetta commercial featuring Johnny Cash “Dirty Egg Sucking Dog” - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>Very well done, and the bulldog is so cute.</p>
<p>That is a really good ad. Another excellent VW one was the famous one of the kid dressed as Darth Vader. They have a good agency.</p>
<p>Yes, I agree, thy have a bunch of talents designing their ads. Here is the full 1 min version of the Darth Vader ad:</p>
<p>[The</a> Force: Volkswagen Commercial - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>And here is VW oldie (but goodie) ad that I thought was funny - “it fits your life (or complete lack therof)” :):</p>
<p>[Sunday</a> Afternoon - feat. Stinky Chair](<a href=“Sunday Afternoon - YouTube”>Sunday Afternoon - YouTube)</p>
<p>Just saw a piece on Hyundai commercials over the years. They used to advertise that they had 10 models that got 40 MPG on the highway. Apparently this was never true. But they’re still going to use the commercials.</p>
<p>They’re going to offer a debit card to those that bought their cars for the last three years to make up for the difference.</p>
<p>^^Dang it, I got all worked up thinking I was going to get a debit card for free gas. My 2013 Sonata GLS apparently isn’t one of the affected cars!</p>
<p><a href=“https://hyundaifuelconsumption.ca/[/url]”>https://hyundaifuelconsumption.ca/</a></p>
<p>Here’s another adorable VW ad about a dog who was inspired to diet:
[The</a> Dog Strikes Back: 2012 Volkswagen Game Day Commercial - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>I hate those commercials for Captain Morgan (I think that’s what it is) where a kind of ugly dude grabs a woman and takes her from one party to another where it looks like all kinds of wild things are going on. Just looks sleazy and whorish to me.</p>
<p>I think that’s the whole point. Captain Morgan will make you attractive to sleazy and whorish women.</p>
<p>These Captain Morgan ads are a huge step up in production value from the old ones where some guy in a bar would assume the exaggerated pirate stance. That campaign was aimed at making Captain Morgan your basic party drink. You do stupid stuff like pose as a pirate if you’re getting goofy and sometimes you want/need to get goofy. You the guy are buying Captain Morgan because you want to have a good time.</p>
<p>But these are a vast change in tone. The party, the dress, the high end decor. It’s a new image: sell the romance of Captain Morgan, the spice of the spiced rum, the pirate of the Black Pearl come to take her away. </p>
<p>I’m not sure what the point exactly is. Are they saying “you are the pirate” in a more sophisticated way? If so, then how does that translate into what Captain Morgan does for you? Compare the fantastic “most interesting man” ads. They say to you, drink this and it isn’t that you’re more interesting but that you’re aware of being interesting, of the importance of being interesting. That sends a message: you’re saying to a woman, you can talk to me because I want to be, I can be, I am interesting. It’s always important to remember the audience is the buyer and in this case the buyer is a guy. That beer is saying to the guy who buys it, “You are interesting.” I gather the Captain Morgan ads are that you as a guy are sending the signal that you’re romantic in a dangerous way. So they’re switching from goofy bar guy to dangerous romantic as the image they want their drinkers to have about themselves. (Sorry for thinking that through as I typed.)</p>
<p>If you drink Captain Morgan, you will be able to force yourself on sleazy, whorish women.</p>
<p>One of my favorite ads now is the Kit Kat bar election ad, with one on the left, one on the right, with the “Paid for by Kit Kat” tag at the end.</p>