As you can see, I survived. Sorry – I’ll try less hard next time.
Right let’s get on with this shall we?
A while back, people started asking whether Google had made us all stupid because they had allowed all the ‘answers’ to be ‘out there’ …
To be honest, my view was – and continues to be – that anyone who thinks [1] Google is to blame and [2] Google has all the answers is the really stupid one, however as much as it pains me, I do have to admit there does seem to be an ever-growing body of folk who seem to manage to go through life without ever switching their brain on.
People who appear on Jerry Springer.
People who think Zac Efron is talented.
People who support Derby County.
Speidi.
Multinational Ad Agency CEO’s.
OK, so we all have bad days … or in my case, bad decades … however this isn’t the fault of bloody Google, it’s the fault of anyone who advocates ‘shortcuts’ to achievement.
Yes, I know I’ve written about this a million times, but it really, truly, madly bugs-the-shit-out-of-me … however the thing that scares me more is that instead of brands fighting against this ‘dumbing down’ of society, embrace it.
I remember a few years ago being in a meeting where the client was complaining our commercial for their uber-priced television was too complicated.
Now whilst I know agencies can – on occasion – go up their own arse, this wasn’t one of those situations.
After a few minutes, I asked if they wanted an ad that was as easy to understand as Mr Bean, the shit Rowan Atkinson television thing.
“Yes, YES, YEEESSSSS!” they screamed in delight – happy I understood them.
After their euphoria had died down, I calmly pointed out that while Mr Bean may be very popular throughout Asia, I very much doubt someone would buy a US$18,000 [!!!] television he endorsed.
The look on their faces was bordering on pathetic … but it sank even lower when I told them that I wasn’t going to recommend doing an ad that featured pseudo-success imagery either.
For me, there’s two ‘strategies’ that annoy the crap out of me: Spoon feeding [ie: dumb down] & Mirror Success [ie: buy product ‘X’ and you’ll be as successful & good looking as the people on the screen]
Anyway, I’m going totally off tangent because all I wanted to talk about was this …
Yep, it’s a photo of 2 women: 1 old bird and Jennifer Garner.
Now I know it would be wrong to assume the cult of celebratory has infiltrated all levels of society, but given this pic came from US magazine – the tabloid’s tabloid – I really think it was unnecessary for them to add this to the pic …
Can you see what I’m going on about?
Yep, it’s the fact they highlighted Jennifer is the one on the right.
You don’t fucking say!
Look, I know Kylie looked about 50 years older when she stopped pumping botox into her face, but let’s face it, for Jen to be mistaken for her Mum, she’d of had to be in the make-up trailer for some horror movie for about 36 weeks.
I believe adland has incredible power to do good.
I’m not talking about developing ideas that help charities [though they should do that too], I’m talking about countering cultural attitudes and behaviours … I just hope more agencies stop taking the easy path because even though it will make people less ‘advertising gullible’, it will show just what we’re capable of and force [some] brands to start focusing on doing the right thing rather than just churn out more lowest-common-denominator rubbish or the same old thing with a microcosm of change.
My name is Robert Campbell. Remember the name, you might not hear it again!