Sunday 2 September 2012

These are a few of my favourite things. Continued.

Most people groan when the adverts come on, not me. I love adverts, well I love good adverts I should say. For example, I don't think anyone can claim to be a fan of Safestyle UK's ad: 'You buy one you get one free' where a bearded man in odd medieval clothes pushes some windows to the floor, however, well made adverts can make you think, catch you by surprise or have the ability to unite the whole nation in a daft catchphrase; 'simples!', 'Oh Yes' or 'Because you're worth it', spurring an incessant trend of imitations and parodies. Adverts can also unite the nation in a wave of collective irritation, Go Compare man I am looking at you, and finally we have the bland and banal of the advertising world, adverts which have neither the ability to catch your imagination or make you love to hate them, I'm talking about adverts for pay day loans, PPI recovery, personal injury claims, adverts which are probably a pretty good but boring example of the basic purpose of advertising, they convey the company's aim but do little else. And no matter how much people moan about adverts interrupting their favourite TV shows or trying to flog them stuff they don't want, I bet they don't moan when the Coca-Cola advert comes on signalling the start of Christmas. 



Adverts are everywhere but TV adverts are my particular favourite. From the pretentious mobile phone company adverts which are so successfully ridiculed by Tesco:


To the lavish and oh so easily parodied Marks and Spencer's food advert. Remember this isn't just an advert, it's a Marks and Spencer advert:

Song is Groove Armada's 'At the River'

Clever and thought provoking adverts get people talking about the advert and ultimately, which is the obvious aim of advertising, talking about the product and the company. Yes, the Go Compare man is incredibly annoying (a fact which GoCompare themselves now use for their advantage) but it certainly makes the name stick in your head and forces the viewer to form some sort of reaction, whether positive, or more likely, negative. 

The Advertising Standards Agency recently published a list of the most complained about adverts in past years. Topping the list was a KFC advert featuring office workers eating a KFC salad and singing with their mouths open. Ironically, the 1,671 people complaining about the advert probably gave the new KFC salad better publicity than KFC could have hoped for as the advert was broadcast on countless news sites. Some cynical people may say this was part of KFC's plan all along......


I'll end with a few of my favourite adverts. Adverts which do not particularly make me want to buy the product, I do not own a Volkswagen or a Sony TV and I buy supermarket own brand bread rather than Hovis. This may cause some to say these adverts have therefore failed their primary aim, to sell their product through the medium of TV. Personally, I think there's far more to advertising than that. Original, thought provoking and well made adverts enhance not only the product being advertised but the look and image of the brand as a whole. 

This is probably my favourite advert of all time, the ambience and message conveyed through the advert means it could almost qualify as a short film. The chilling and atmospheric music in the background is Cliff Martinez's 'Don't Blow It' and Richard Burton reads the opening to 'Under Milk Wood' by Dylan Thomas. My favourite piece of literature in the English language. Although this advert is a few years old now, I never tire of watching it.


Secondly, an advert that is colloquially known as the 'Bouncing Balls' advert. I love this advert because it is just so cool. 3D and LCD TV is a pretty boring topic to advertise so even more credit is due to the producers. According to the making of, 250,000 coloured balls were dropped down the streets of San Francisco.The music in the advert is Jose Gonzalez's cover of The Knife's 'Heartbeats'.


Thirdly, an advert that still brings a smile to my face no matter how many times I watch it. To condense 122 years worth of history into two minutes is a feat in itself but to do it all based on a walk back from the shop to get a loaf is so simply brilliant it's astounding, the use of fashion, dialogue and instantly recognisable scenes means in every scene the year can be identified. Rather annoyed they missed the whole of the 90s but I'll get over it....



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