Why are commericals so effing weird nowadays?

[Erttheking]

You know, awhile back whenever there was a commerical that started off by throwing really weird stuff at me I could say "Oh, it's a car commerical" and I was usually right, but nowadays it's moved beyond car commericals. I mean, look at this.


It seems like so many commericals are just about throwing random crap together, inserting a product at some point, and calling it a day. I mean, how does this work?

 

[Lilikins]

I admit..you are completely right, some of them are downright horrifying.

Have you seen that 'Little babys ice cream' commercial? that one downright haunts me to this day out of its wierdness.

(allthough I will admit from the wierd commercials, old spice ones still crack me up even though they are really wierd haha)

 

[DefunctTheory]

You just made an entire topic dedicated to weird advertisements, and then linked one of them for everyone to watch and discuss.

You just answered the question yourself.

 

[TheIronRuler]

You know, awhile back whenever there was a commerical that started off by throwing really weird stuff at me I could say "Oh, it's a car commerical" and I was usually right, but nowadays it's moved beyond car commericals. I mean, look at this.


It seems like so many commericals are just about throwing random crap together, inserting a product at some point, and calling it a day. I mean, how does this work?

.
Nowadays people have REALLY short attention spans, so tossing a curve-ball in a commercial and making you go "WTF?" and stare at the screen allows them to get more attention out of the viewer (=more interest in the product).

Plus, what AccursedTheory said is correct as well.

 

[shootthebandit]

Perfume ads are the best.

Cue a pretty woman in a nice dress then a voice over: I am who I am, but what am I? Am I who you expect me to be or who I expect me to be? Do I decide my own destiny or does my destiny decide me?....but really the only question I should ask myself is "what does it fucking smell like?"...channel no.5

If you want some good adverts check out the IRN BRU adverts. IRN BRU is a soft drink in scotland but its popularity is growing worldwide and their adverts are genuinely funny

Bearing in mind fanny is a UK term for a vagina. Its also used when someone is being an idiot i.e "stop acting like a fanny". Of course fanny is also a name

 

[Aeshi]

Perfume ads are the best.

Cue a pretty woman in a nice dress then a voice over: I am who I am, but what am I? Am I who you expect me to be or who I expect me to be? Do I decide my own destiny or does my destiny decide me?....but really the only question I should ask myself is "what does it fucking smell like?"...channel no.5

To be fair, ads for Perfume have it FAR harder than ads for other products, since they have to sell a product that can't really be represented via Video.

OT: We live in an era where just about everything interesting, odd and/or funny is shared and shown to dozens of people by their friends going "lol look at this" like AcursedTheory said, if you can make it memorable, people will talk about it. Heck, look at Old Spice or Compare the Meerkat if you want examples.

 

[Neverhoodian]

If I was to hazard a guess, it's probably an attempt to combat the growing disinterest of an increasingly jaded television audience. They're throwing random stuff against the wall in the hope that something sticks. Either that or marketers found the hidden cache of paint chips again. Both are equally plausible.

You know what needs to come back? Jingles. You know, those short catchy songs that would stick in your head for days. It's one hell of an effective way to get an audience to remember a product:

Spoiler

 

[Hazy992]

You just made an entire topic dedicated to weird advertisements, and then linked one of them for everyone to watch and discuss.

You just answered the question yourself.

Came here to say just that. The fact that not only do you remember the commercial, you're now discussing it on an open forum proves it's worked.

There was an ad campaign in the UK for Cadbury's Dairy Milk that was literally a guy in a gorilla suit playing the drums to Phil Collins' 'In the Air Tonight'. It has nothing to do with the product but that original commercial was seven years ago and I still remember it clear as day.

 

[Fat Hippo]

I'd rather my commercials were strange and amusing than just a boring explanation of what good qualities a product has, and why we should just take their word for it, even though they could be lying through their teeth for all I know. They're a waste of my time anyway, so I'd welcome it if they weren't a completely boring waste of my time.

 

[PainInTheAssInternet]

It's not a new thing. I keep seeing videos on youtube combing over old commercials that made you swear you were tripping bad acid. Just type in "weird commercials."

Guaranteed most will be Japanese, though.

 

[V4Viewtiful]

It's Psychology, it's like the reason most ads are aimed at women.

 

[DefunctTheory]

It's Psychology, it's like the reason most ads are aimed at women.

Something like that?

 

[sXeth]

Memetic marketing to hit the Internet LOLRANDOMWTF video sharing audience?

Marketing designed to "go viral" via Youtube and the like has really kind of kicked up as a thing over the last 5 years. You can take courses in it even.

 

[V4Viewtiful]

Something like that?

Exactly that

When an add is weird or unusual it then becomes synonymous with the brand and becomes iconographic. As blatant as it is. it's good subliminal messaging. Associate a song, sound etc to a product either out of place or well known, even if they never see the product when something from the added is seen they then recall it. Often curiosity takes hold and the audience seeks it out.

 

[Caiphus]

Yeah, it's presumably designed to go viral. Also, if it's on Youtube where you're usually able to skip it, then it can stop people doing that.

I, for one, don't actually mind. I'd actually prefer more video game adverts like Jonathon Holmes' Gamecube commercials.

Spoiler: Good fun

 

[scorptatious]

I don't know, but the people who are making them weird are geniuses. It's eye catching and makes people aware of their product, and in the end, that's what an advertisement is supposed to do.

You know what needs to come back? Jingles. You know, those short catchy songs that would stick in your head for days. It's one hell of an effective way to get an audience to remember a product:

"It can only be JAAAAREEEEEEEED!!"

...

Fuck.

 

[lacktheknack]

"We hate in-game advertisements!"
>"I hate ads on the internet! I want to fight the Escapist's ban on Adblock advocacy!"
>then this thread happened

Anyways... ads have always been weird. You just notice this more as you get older.

 

[Lilani]

You know, awhile back whenever there was a commerical that started off by throwing really weird stuff at me I could say "Oh, it's a car commerical" and I was usually right, but nowadays it's moved beyond car commericals. I mean, look at this.

-video snip-

It seems like so many commericals are just about throwing random crap together, inserting a product at some point, and calling it a day. I mean, how does this work?

Commercials are competing not only with other companies, but other forms of media as well. People don't just watch TV anymore, they're also on their phones and tablets and computers while watching TV. And if people are watching videos on YouTube or whatever, they can occupy themselves in another tab while the ad is showing, or if it offers the option skip after 5 seconds. So in order to get and keep people's attention, marketers are having to resort to different formats for their ads. One such tactic is making the ad really weird and surreal, hoping to catch people's attention with spectacle so they wonder "What is going on here?" and "I wonder what this is about" to stick around for the duration of the ad.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I kind of like that Wheat Thins commercial--it's fun and quirky in kind of a self-aware way, but not obnoxious or overtly manipulative. The Internet has also given people a taste for unusual or random things being played straight, and self-aware/ironic comedy, and clearly this ad is cashing in on that, as many are these days.

Though note that you'll only see this sort of thing for companies that don't have a distinct corporate identity. A company like WalMart or McDonalds might be hesitant to do an ad like this, because they're tasked with not just selling people products, but with the idea of the company as a whole. When people buy Wheat Thins, they're interested in the product, not the company behind them. When Nabisco advertises Wheat Thins or Oreos, they advertise those individual products, not the company as a whole. But WalMart and McDonalds provide services as well as products, so they have to maintain a specific corporate identity to make them appealing to people. Nobody cares how friendly Nabisco is, but people who shop at WalMart care about how friendly WalMart is, or at least how friendly they appear. So their ads are less centered around momentary spectacle, and more about reinforcing a corporate identity that sells them as a friendly, helpful, caring company which can enriches your life in ways other than selling you tasty snacks at a discount.

 

[beastro]

You know, awhile back whenever there was a commerical that started off by throwing really weird stuff at me I could say "Oh, it's a car commerical" and I was usually right, but nowadays it's moved beyond car commericals. I mean, look at this.


It seems like so many commericals are just about throwing random crap together, inserting a product at some point, and calling it a day. I mean, how does this work?

Sorry but you're just young.

Commercials always were messed up, you've just grown up enough to become aware of it.



The point of an ad is to stick in your mind and keep you thinking about what they're plugging and talk about it with other people spread the word. Showing weird crap is the best way to do both.

The only thing that's changed since they began is the decline of the influence radio had over TV and people's behaviour on it that began in the 1860s on shows themselves, and seemed to have taken place in ads somewhere in the 1980s, when commercials went from "show and tell" (TV showing you the thing, a radio type announcer hyping it) to just "show" (Showing you the product, with little talk because it's now considered unnecessary or the domain of shady shit like Billy Mays infomercials or buying trillion dollar "tribute" coins).

 

[Narfo]

It's simple actually: the main aim of most advertisements aren't so much to convince you to go out and buy what you saw on the TV, but to leave an impression. And everyone can remember commercials that made them laugh out loud or made them say "What the fuck?"