Imagine, for a moment, cruising down the highway. There are other cars on this highway, but these cars do not have ads plastered over their bumpers and windows like it’s the Indy 500.
The minivan next to you is so Scentsy-ed out that you wonder if maybe that’s Dale Earnhardt driving next to you and if he can even see out of them and what’s that number again, I want to call just to see if it’s him.
- Imagine checking your blind spot and not craning to the point of owl-hood to check what the lottery is up to.
- Imagine a road free of billboards.
- Imagine pulling into your neighborhood and not having to look at the cardboard standups of what moving or mowing company your neighbors used.
- Imagine turning on the TV after said drive home and not having to sit through a Viagra or Cymbalta commercial while you watch your favorite show with your family.
- Imagine putting the kids to bed and heading to the store that night because it’s calmer after sun and kid down and not having to look at, or push around for that matter, ad-covered shopping carts.
Ads have become a lot like second-hand smoke. You didn’t ask for them, but they just keep showing up.
Why don’t I have any rights? Why do I have to be constantly bombarded?
Remember smoking in the ’80s?
You could go to the mall, a movie theatre, or just about anywhere and light up a smoke. (Okay, so I was too young to smoke, but I remember plenty of smoke-filled restaurants and trips to the mall with my mom and dad growing up).
But then they outlawed it. And now kids wonder what, “Smoking or non-smoking?” means. I’ve heard a lot of smokers say they hate second-hand smoke, but that they love making it. That sounds a lot like what these advertisers are doing.
Advertising overload should be a crime. There should be limits. And those, yes you, you over-indulgers and degraders of the artistry of marketing and advertising, you know it too.
Good marketers should catch my drift here. There’s a limit to what humans can take before it all becomes counterproductive (and remember – I’m in the business saying this).
I can, and want to say this because as an advertiser and as a consumer, I’m tired of it. We need to de-clutter our minds.
Downsizing and simplicity are the new trends. Why? Because that’s what the consumer wants – a breath of fresh air. A minimalistic approach. They’re looking for those products and those companies that are able to do more with less and that challenge us to value what they’ve got to offer.
You don’t want your ads to piss me off – you want me to like them. Be attractive. Do something interesting. Tell me a story. Make me hate you for making me want you.
But don’t treat me like I’m a working girl. Treat me like you’d treat yourself.