Certain Ads Can Be Creative or Annoying

I don’t think about television, web, print or radio ads too much -- until moments like these when I’m putting my thoughts down on the blog. Certain ads fascinate me while others can be quite annoying. Either way, the advertisements’ producers are doing something right because those products are burned into my mind in some fashion.

When it comes to automobile ads, somehow actor Matthew McConaughey’s strange pitches for the Lincoln brand intrigues me and I’m sure millions of other viewers. Somehow Mr. McConaughey intrigues me, but I cannot say exactly what compels me to watch those ads. The combination of McConaughey’s acting along with the direction, editing and music makes this campaign special. It’s so special in fact, that NBC’s Saturday Night Live produced an excellent parody of the ad during its 40th season.

Lately I have been in a more light-hearted mood when viewing the Kia Motors TV ads featuring animated hamsters. The animators are genius because they animated these cute creatures so much with their human-like expressions. I recall one ad depicting a hamster rock ‘n roll band including a drummer getting into the music so much, his or her eyes are droopy. I’m loving the latest ad set to pop group Maroon 5’s “Animals” to promote its Kia Soul Electric Vehicle. In this ad, the hamsters are car developers who create the electric car by hitting a huge red button. As the song pumps up in the ad, a rather demure female hamster pops out of the car leaving the male car developers taken aback. They discover that there’s something special about that magic red button.

Perhaps it’s quite successful, but the fast food giant Arby’s TV and radio ads are annoying to me. A male in a low, husky voice proclaims that, “Arby’s has the meats.” Obviously they are attracting meat lovers across America, but for folks like me who don’t care to view mile-high turkey on a bun, it’s quite unattractive. Like I have said before, perhaps Arby’s is successful with this ad campaign which seems to get more airtime than say Burger King or McDonald’s these days.

Speaking of Burger King and McDonald’s, both seem to be going through their own transformations in order to compete in the fast food restaurant arena with their unique ads. The company which found success with its “Lovin’ It” ads for several years has been tinkering with putting current events messages on its store billboards like a 9/11 anniversary commemoration or an electronic billboard which reads, “Boston Strong.” Recent television ads depict adversaries getting along like Dorothy and the witch from The Wizard of Oz. It’s all heart-warming fare, but have the ads seriously attracted new customers? For me, I’ve had my fill of McDonald’s growing up so any type of ad will not get me to come in unless I’m desperately hungry. Actually, I’m loving the McCafe coffee which is offered in places like Dollar General.

Perhaps Burger King and McDonalds have taken hits due to higher quality fast food fare out there including offerings from Panera, a bread-bagel-sandwich joint. Personally, I always loved Panera, but the recent TV ads showing close-ups of customers eating their sandwiches are annoying to me. I could be wrong, but I think the ads send a subliminal message to quickly eat their sandwiches instead of savoring them. Maybe I’m a prude, but I don’t enjoy watching people devour sandwiches. I’ll say one good thing about the Panera ads: they are shot well even if they’re close-ups of people pigging out on its products. I have one suggestion for Panera: bring in the hamsters.

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