A well-known principle of evolution, whether biological or technological, is that predator and prey refine each other. For every increase in speed or stealth or lethality a predator (or weapon or tactic) achieves, the prey (or defensive or evasive system) becomes more canny and elusive. Faster antelope are chased down and speeded up by faster cheetahs, more sophisticated burglar alarms create more sophisticated burglars, and so on.
The exact same thing goes on in the world of advertising. To get past the self-protective filter of ever more sophisticated, skeptical, and overwhelmed consumers, commercials have to become more striking, subtle, and memorable. This evolutionary pressure is turning the commercial into an art form.
It's not enough just to grab your attention and lodge in your memory – lots of commercials do so in an extremely annoying way, especially those, like car and drug ads, that directly pester you to buy something. ("HEAD ON! Apply diRECTly to the FOREhead!" repeated enough times will give you a headache.) There's a real danger of provoking an aversion to the product and a hatred of the company you're trying to promote. I have actually vowed never to buy the products of companies whose commercials drive me nuts.
The best kind of commercial is a tiny drama as compressed as a haiku, that has only an indirect, metaphorical relationship to the product being sold. These commercials don't force their sponsor on your attention, and paradoxically, they inspire in you a background feeling of gratitude and approval toward the company cool enough to commission them.
One recent example is the Bank of Scotland campaign, which featured a man choking while his lunch companions talked about the Heimlich Maneuver (this one was honored by the Heimlich Institute!), and a bride whose groom works a whole pre-nup with escape clauses into his "I do." In both cases, a handsome James Bondish fellow steps in and does what needs doing, embodying the slogan "Less Talk. Make It Happen." The subtext of the ad is that we live in a world devoid of decisive, action-ready masculinity, and the Bank of Scotland will provide a shot of testosterone, slashing dashingly through the dithering and red tape. (The third ad in the series, which involved quicksand, was more heavy-handed and much less effective.)
Article comments
1 - Dave
The new Jello commercial jingle is the worst, most annoying thing I've ever heard. It's flat-out horrible. I am actively going out of my way to make sure that I am not unconsciously affected by it towards Jello: I'm not buying their Jello, or their pudding, or their ice cream treats, or anything. I will encourage my friends not to do so by encouraging them to buy other brands so that I don't give Jello the name recognition that the discussion would give. Am I silly? Perhaps. I love some commercials to the point that I honestly never tire of them (like the "Unbreak my Heart" credit card protection commercial), but I could not sit through a single watching of that damned Jello jingle.
2 - amba
See? You either love it or you hate it.
3 - Nancy
One of the best ads I ever saw was ages ago for Mutual of Omaha's "Wild Kingdom", featuring a kitten playing with a tiny rubber ball, then cutting to a lion playing with a beachball - which he catches and it suddenly disappears, leaving the lion sniffing forlornly at the shreds of the beachball.
In Europe, do car ads feature announcers who use that assinine hyper-excited shouting voice as if they're about to have hysterics over whatever gas guzzler it is they're trying to unload? Almost all of them do it here in the US, and it just sets my teeth ON EDGE-! And they all scream, "HURRY-! Call NOW-!" Yuh, right. I'm gonna race down there & buy your stupid cars. I HATE those ads. A pox on all of them.
4 - Meagan
i love/hate the jingle. its so cute but gets suck in your head too easily.. i just cant get enough of it tho. and now its suck in my head! curse you jello jingle why must you be so cute!!!!!!!
hahahahaha