The Ad Game

This ad game is a tricky one.  I have rolled it over and over in my mind.  I recognize the importance of advertising using any medium.  It helps get new products and services to consumers.  It also allows companies grow and allows the economy to boost.  Advertising also allows companies to compete against one another for the buying edge.  I just don't remember when lying to the consumers became a part of the deal.  Yes, we wanted the discounts.  Yes, we wanted to be a part of something that catered to us.  How could someone not find it pleasurable to be catered to?  Most of us, however, did not realize what we were signing up to do.  In the beginning, there was no fine print-anywhere.  Since it was fashionable to reduce paper mail, we opted for our emails to receive the junk mail.  It was pleasurable to know we were doing our part for the environment.  No need to litter up our mail boxes or recycling bins even more!  Little did we realize what we had done.  Very little.

One of my favorite lines from Men In Black is when Tommy Lee Jones is giving the speech about what to expect when you join the MIB.  He said, "People, for the most part, don't have a clue.  They don't want one, or need one either.  They're happy-they think they have a good bead on things."  No truer words are spoken.  I believe this is the larger percent that are being catered to.  The status quo being the everyday Jane's and Joe's who bust ass daily to come home to family, dinner, and a few hours of tv before bed.  This is where advertising captures them and takes the consumer on a journey to a fantasy world of tight blouses delivering cold beer, men who smell like the ocean sailing away with the women they love, and families squabbling over minutes on a prehistoric cellphone plan.

Technology is akin to the Sasquatch.  It's a big, ugly animal that attracts devoted fans and staunch disbelievers.  It's had money thrown at it to be searched and studied.  It seems impossible to trace, yet we still have people out there who think they've got the image of Bigfoot.  With all the hullabaloo about scams across the board, some efforts have been made to clear the air.  Recent studies have been shown that to really sell a product, you need to engage the consumer and earn your way into their hearts. not leaving them feeling unappreciated and worthless.  I can only hope that common sense prevails for the commonwealth.  Hindsight may be 20/20, but certain immediate images in our mirrors are still larger than they appear.  

Keeping It Real...Hard

Controversial Viagra Ad

Sitting in a doctors office is a tedious thing.  It's quiet... soft music is playing in the background... no one talks to each other.  I've always wanted to burp loudly in that space and see what people do.  My son did it once and it made the entire waiting room jump out of their skins.  The both of us proceeded to laugh ourselves to tears.  The room giggled with us.  I think it would be a mixed review if a grown person did it.

Feeling the onset of droopy eye, I attempted to divert my sleepy mind with the outdated and poorly maintained reading materials.  My selections were limited- but I found one with a tawdry cover and promises of sexual bliss on page 123.  Apparently, there are even more up-to-date sexual positions that have been certified by a a bonafide sex doctor...all pun intended.  Who doesn't love those horrid attempts the mainstream magazines make at soft porn images and badly explained paragraphs?  I giggled quietly with anticipation and turned towards the back.  

As I stared flipping from the back to the front, the magazine fell open to a Viagra ad.  The image above was located at the top of the advertisement.  My eyes were drawn to the image.  Everyone enjoys a good magic show.  I've always wanted to be the assistant!  All the pretty costumes and the idea of being sawed in half!  Neato!  Soon, I was transfixed- what the hell did an old magician levitating his assistant have to do with Viagra?  I was so sucked into deducing the reason that when it finally hit me, I laughed right out loud.  It caught me by surprise so quickly, I didn't have the inclination, nor the time, frankly, to sensor my guffaw.

I began laughing all the harder when I remembered where I was: a urologist's office.  The other patients in the waiting room looked at me like I had gone mad.  I was going to apologize and explain myself.  However, when you have reached that hysterical point of no return, it's best just to excuse yourself, leave the area and catch your breath.  Thankfully, I returned from the bathroom and my name was immediately called.  I brought the ad with me and shared it with the doctor.  He thought it was pretty funny too.  I felt a small dose of relief that I could share this with someone.  I found out later this ad was stricken from publication because it was deemed too risque.

Even though I personally do not find anything wrong with the ad, someone out there with nothing better to do obviously felt this was an uncalled for attempt at advertising sex.  Who wouldn't want a more satisfied sex life, in my opinion?  Viagra's ad is a witty one.  When you create clever controversy, like this image did, the ad becomes the talk of the town.  This kind of free advertising works better than any amount of money the company could spend on making more clinically benign ads to appease social scrutineers.  On average, who doesn't think of sex at least once a day?  I feel the ad also makes light of an uncomfortable topic for men... and subsequently women.  Sexually healthy couples who are stymied by erectile dysfunction probably had no recourse before Viagra exploded on the scene (the innuendos are limitless!!).  Our culture is rife with sex, yet we have so many stigmas and double standards regarding it.  Especially for men.  Men are supposed to be automatons.  This is the myth.  I feel Viagra's "bedvertising" campaign is a good one because it opens the topic to conversation and exposes the real controversy: men have feelings too.  They're just made to believe they're not supposed to.