Is it time for truth in advertising?

In two words, advertising sucks. And this from a guy who made a great living creating it for 30 years.

I could tell you such stories…

Truth in advertising = no advertising.

If you need a truck, you’re driving one or attempting to figure out how to scrape together enough money to buy one. Advertising runs on the idea that there is insufficient motivation to purchase. That could be a truck, Swiffer floor sweepers, lingerie, or jewelry. They are offering the same thing the preacher is offering on Sunday morning – meaning, hope, happiness, the end of suffering, an identity, belonging. Advertising is not simply stating facts about the particular specs of the Dodge Dick Dodge Ram. It’s letting you know that you are not alone. We know you’re in pain. We know you want an identity. We know you are speeding towards death and there is nothing you can do about it. We know that you thought it was going to be different. Well, you know what? Maybe it can. We have a truck for you. This isn’t just a truck. It will grow your johnson, make people feel proud of you, save your marriage, fill you with the respect of a nation, repel foreign invaders, fight for the little guys, and make Jesus salute you.

Now, the alternative would be a white paper placed on the screen with stats about the stupid truck – how many does it seat, horsepower, MPG, price, cab size, etc. This is never going to happen. And much of advertising now is product placement within tv shows and movies.

Anyway, I like the parody. Not sure if your question was serious about selling trucks with the truthful parody stuff.

All advertising is pandering to our ‘perceived need’ for material possessions that we think will make us ‘more envied’ or ‘more successful’ or ‘more attractive’ or ‘more of a woman’ or ‘more of a man’, etc. Advertising is frequently the reason that so many of us get into debt for whatever ‘new’ gadget is available. There will NEVER be any truth in advertising!

Sorry but I liked the Dodge Commercial. Of course I come from a family with a lot of farmers so I tend to sympathize with them. I still know a lot of farmers as well. 90% of the farms in the US are family farms. Only 3% are large corporation and 90% of those are family owned. Of all the people and corporations in the US that you might choose to make fun of, I would think farmers would be the least likely candidates. Obviously I am mistaken.

Frankly I like the other parody better.

1. All advertising is pandering .
2. That was the dumbest parody I’ve ever seen.

@Pachyderm_In_The_Room Spot on. Thanks.

@tom_g & Linda_Owl Very profound. Great answer.

@Jaxk Sorry you’ll probably always be completely incapable of understanding the parody, or the strength of the answer @tom_g gave. Perhaps that’s because on the 9th day, a con man made God, then immediately convinced himself it was the other way around. It went rapidly downhill from there.

@ETpro

You’re probably right I never will understand. The Dodge commercial is designed to make you feel good. The parody you provided was designed to make you feel bad. I’ll never understand why liberals hate the idea of of feeling good about your work, your lot in life or your country. I guess, it’s simply that they prosper better when everyone is dissatisfied, victimized, and contentious with their neighbors. So they foster that environment.

Marketing is subtle. The dodge commercial is designed to make you feel good and to associate that feeling with Dodge. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t. If you want a commercial that makes your johnson bigger, there are already plenty of those. Dodge wasn’t going for that crowd. Obviously Dodge didn’t appeal to the atheist crowd either. Personally I do find it a bit offensive that because you didn’t like Dodge, you felt impelled to denigrate farmers. I guess that’s just what liberals do.

@Jaxk: “Personally I do find it a bit offensive that because you didn’t like Dodge, you felt impelled to denigrate farmers.”

Huh? Who denigrated farmers? What the shit?

And yes, I am ignoring your nonsensical “I’ll never understand why liberals…” comments. The only serious response to this is, “Pickles soap march pizza tree airplane blouse.”

@tom_g

Apparently you didn’t watch @ETpro‘s Truth. Either that or you’re further gone than I thought. Dodge did a few things that obviously raised the ire of liberals. They mentioned God (Oh, the horror) they talked about hard work, long hours, family values, kindness, respect for thier environment. All things that deserve some kind of punishment. Liberals seem to need two things in any discussion, a victim and an oppressor. Dodge provided neither. They only provided a good feeling for many of us. That can’t go unpunished.

I’ll ignore your horseshit and ask again – Who denigrated farmers?

@tom_g

And I’ll direct you back to @ETpro‘s parody.

Watched it 3 times. I will ask again – who denigrated farmers?

@Jaxk Simple answer. Nobody denigrated farmers. GMO seeds, giant factory farms, the farm industry now using more antibiotics than humans, the environmental and public health impact of such corporate farm behavior, that is what was skewered, and I think rightly so. Actions do have consequences. Building an ever more unsustainable style of living has consequences—and they are decidedly undesirable.

@ETpro

That’s an interesting take on what those damned farmers have done to us. You think it’s unsustainable and detrimental. I can’t help but wonder how you came to that conclusion. It might help to look at the impact of these, you’ll forgive me if I call them, advancements.

In 1950 a cow produced 5,314 pounds of milk per year, that same cow now produces 18,301 pounds per year. That means that without these advancements we would need a herd 3 times the size or give up drinking milk. In fact if you look at the overall farm production each farmer produces 12 times as much as he did in 1950. That has allowed us to move from an agricultural society to a more industrious and technology driven society. Instead of 90% of our workforce dedicated to farming we have been able to diversify and spread our human resource into medicine, electronics, and all sorts of productivity enhancing fields. Hell the computer we’re arguing on may not have been developed if Steven Jobs had been farming instead. In 1950 we spent about 25% of all our income on food. Now we spend less than 10%. What a disaster.

And of course we need to look at the human toll all this has taken. In 1950 the average life span was 68, now it is 77.8. Doesn’t seem like all this is killing us. We’re living longer, have more free time and money and are free to pursue whatever field of endeavor we choose. Those damned farmers have screwed us again. You’ll forgive my sarcasm.

Absolutely it’s time for truth in advertising but how do you convince the clients?

Big companies like Dodge, probably are National Accounts with National advertising plans, so getting corporate America to tell the truth about anything is an uphill battle.

So an honest commercial would say what in your opinion?

New drug commercials tell you about the positive and side effects of the drug. You telling people about the crazy side effects stop sales? It’s a multi-billion dollar industry. In fact, there are more side effects than positives. It’s the same thing with tobacco products. It’s right on the label “may cause cancer” yet over 5 trillion cigarettes are smoked each year. Billion dollar industry.

Arrested development, a TV comedy series that got canceled after 3 seasons has received a myriad of various awards and ranked as one of the best comedies but there simply wasn’t enough people aware of the show. After its cancellation, the market caught up with it and it started to regain popularity which led to the development of new episodes and possibly a movie. Good show, poor marketing.

@Jaxk I understand the good that’s come from farm automation, use of pesticides, herbicides, GMO seeds that resist them, antibiotics in feed, etc.

I wish you would be as open to understanding the down side. Deadly pesticides and herbicides are polluting ground water, rivers, lakes and the oceans. They’re showing up in seafood. We’re seeing alarming increases in numerous forms of cancer and we don’t know why, but exposure to such poisons certainly looms high as a possible cause. At some concentration level, they will become deadly to wildlife non GMO plants, game and humans. The massive overuse of antibiotics in agribusiness is allowing antibiotic resistant bacteria to evolve at an alarming rate. But where big corporations are involved, none of that matters. Constantly increasing quarterly profits are the only consideration.

@KNOWITALL Maybe something to do with how good the truck is instead of how nostalgic we all ought to feel about the family farmer who is now a disappearing breed.

@avaeve Sad but true.

@ETpro Because Marketing 101 is evoke emotion. Everyone knows that.

@ETpro

Everything is a double edged sword. Where we always get into these debates is when you start with statements like: “But where big corporations are involved, none of that matters.”. You need a bad guy and it is invariably business. Business is not out to screw you. Businesses are constantly looking for ways to do things better, to make your life better, not to hurt you. And yes, if they succeed, they make a lot of money. But if they make a mistake, they lose and they lose big. We will never agree on this so I’ll stop wasting my time on it. But business is not the enemy.

People should boycott most repetitive advertising. It’s a form of visual and auditory trash numbing our brains and well-being.

@mattbrowne Absolutely. People have no idea how much power they actually have to change the world.