The Power of the Television Commercial

Back in the early years of television when commercials first appeared, they were very succinct and to the point. This is out product, this is what it does, please buy it. But as the years have passed, the television commercial has gradually become something of a major spectacle with big companies shelling out millions for special effects, celebrity endorsements and catchy slogans and jingles. The big question has to be: has all this been money well spent? I don't really think so. With the advent of Tivo, people are now fast forwarding through them and ignoring them completely. I think if you ask the average person they'll tell you that they find TV ads to be a pain in the rear and just wish that they would go away.

Thinking back over the years I honestly can't think of one TV spot that I saw that made me run out and buy that particular product yet there must be some validity to these ads or they wouldn't keep making them. Let's look at a couple that are on at the moment. The Axe Body Spray ads where girls are constantly throwing themselves at the guys wearing the product are very funny but I've been wearing Axe for a while now and the only reason I bought it was because it was relatively cheap and I like the smell of it when I gave it a sniff in the store. It must also be noted that no woman had launched herself at me while wearing the spray but my wife has thrown the can at me a couple of times. Following along the sex in advertising rules are beer commercials where half-naked swimsuit model flounce around as guys throw back gallons of the amber liquid. I don't know about you guys but the bar I drink at doesn't have any customers like that. It basically consists of me, the one-eyed barman, and an old guy with a horrendous smokers cough. Not a lot of Hawaiian Tropic action going on there.

Don't get me wrong, I find a whole bunch of these ads to be highly entertaining, sometime more so than the shows they are wedged between, but 99% of the time when I am talking about a certain ad that I saw, I'll be asked what it was for and I simply can't remember. It's hard to pay attention to the company logo when there are a bunch of chimpanzees in suits making a guy dance.

The highlight of the TV ad spots though has to be the Super Bowl. Companies shell out millions for a 30 second spot that can literally make or break them as at no other time in the year are people paying so much attention. It has helped that for the most part the big game is a one-sided blowout and fans need some serious entertainment by about the fifth minute of the second quarter. It's the only time of the year when I've noticed that people really pay attention and where the commercial is of paramount importance. There have been some great ones on Bowl day but again, I still haven't run out and bought that product and have usually forgotten all about by the next week.

The fall season is upon us now and I'm sure with that will come a whole host of clever new ads that people will ignore, go to the bathroom through, skip over, or just plain complain and grumble about but I guess as long as the public still keeps buying their junk, they'll just keep right on bombarding us with them.