by Phyllis Twombly

Created on: August 06, 2009

The reason for watching advertisements is the same for viewing any other video production. Entertain me: make me laugh or cry, appeal to my sense of irony or give me a moment of escapism. Advertisements should be made from bloopers or outtakes from other popular media. Then they might actually appeal to a younger marketing demographic. Much was made of the recent shocking discovery that young people don't 'Twitter' and they hate advertising. But you can follow the discussion on Twitter.

The British Columbia SPCA had a series of brilliant commercials a few years ago. Each one showed people doing things to other people things that 'you can only do with a pet.' The guy who woke to find his buddy rubbing his belly was priceless. The woman being teased about her belly at the fridge, not so much. The current 'only cats can be cats' cat food campaign, somewhere in the middle. I'd like to see the human version of Hubert being rescued from a tree by firefighters. 'Only firefighters can rescue cats...'

Cute also does well especially if your advertisement works some humor in. There's the pretty girl who's about to go out with a vampire she's mistaken for goth. Her dad gives her pizza with garlic in the crust and the vampire retreats. Mmm...pizza. Then there are endangered rain forest species that sell cell phones and the lizard who saves you money on insurance. I think a showdown between the lizard and the duck may be in an upcoming episode...er, commercial. Advertisers could do worse. Many of them already have.

My personal favorite is the one for frozen desserts (I think, the ad itself was so entertaining I may have missed the product.) The couple is in a bedroom in their underwear with the man tied to a chair. He's repeating the woman's name as she puts a blindfold over his eyes. After a few moments his tone of voice changes as he realizes he's now alone. The next shot shows his fine lady in the kitchen where she's enjoying a huge helping of pie, a wild gleam in her eyes.

Advertisements that have humor accomplish their goal. People remember them. Just try to remember the commercials you've seen on any given day. Two kinds of advertisements stand out. You remember the ones that made you laugh which is good for business. You also remember the ones you really hated which is bad for business.

What isn't funny is the trend to blast viewers with an increase in sound regardless of whether it's volume or intensity. If your advertisement is so uninteresting that there's no other hook to get viewers' attention, can it. Consumers of the world have this handy dandy little gadget called the MUTE button. And we're not afraid to use it.

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