Filed under: Attitude & Aptitude, Corporate Evil, Crap Campaigns In History, Marketing, Marketing Fail
OK, as I wrote yesterday, this week has been full of loving and nice posts.
Or as long and nice as I can get.
And tomorrow – as it’s the closest day to Otis’ 8th birthday – I’m going to drown you in it.
So I thought I’d better show I’ve still got some hate in me before you call the hospital.
And Police.
Fortunately, Uber have made it easy for me to do this. Again.
Because for all their claims ‘we’re a good, people-focused company these days’, they show they’re not.
Or, at the very least, lacking any sense of self awareness whatsoever.
Have a look at this ..
What. The. Absolute. Fuck?
Like seriously, what the hell?
Now to be honest, this may be a joke tweet. I didn’t see it myself but was sent it by a friend.
But the fact I can imagine it’s real, highlights how questionable Uber are.
Because – lets face it – anyone that uses the death of a loved one to try and guilt trip you into hiring their taxi service has some major issues going on.
And they don’t even get it right because they suggest the reason you should do it is to ‘treat yourself’ rather than respect the loss of your grandfather.
They even dare say it’s what ‘grandpa would have wanted’.
The evil pricks.
But why would I think they’d understand how disgusting this behaviour is?
For all the fluff PR pieces they’ve put out … we all know Uber don’t give a fuck about anyone or anything other than lining their own pocket.
So here’s hoping anyone who falls for this lets grandpa’s ashes fall out all over the back of the Uber Black seats and force it off the road for a few days so it can be cleaned. Because annoying someone who is trying to bully and manipulate their grandkids is what grandpa really would have wanted.
Assholes.
Filed under: Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Corporate Evil, Crap Campaigns In History, Creativity, Daily Fail, Fear
There’s a narrative that to be rich, you have to be smart.
Or very, very lucky.
Whether that viewpoint is true or not is probably more an individual take than a general view. But what isn’t talked about very often is how success can make you stupid.
The comedian Billy Connolly once said the world smells of fresh paint, because wherever the Queen walks [RIP] … 20 feet in front of her is someone painting the walls white.
Or said another way, wherever successful people go, ‘yes people’ follow.
Never did I see that more in action than when I lived in America.
OH MY GOD.
The ‘manage-up’ attitude was incredible to witness.
Basic thoughts were met with an ever increasing amount of fawning responses …
“That’s a brilliant idea”.
“Genius”.
“You’re so clever”.
And all this resulted in was leaders thinking they were Gods … walking on clouds thinking the world was looking up and worshiping them … pushing confidence in their own voice to greater and greater levels, so they spouted even more ridiculous viewpoints that they packaged-up as next-level Yoda statements for their entourage to fake swoon over.
I say this because I recently saw this …
WHAT THE HELL?
I mean, what does ‘the smartest praline in the World’ even mean?
Does it have Alexa inside them?
Or maybe the new iWatch Ultra?
Or did they get Einstein’s body, crush it up and placed fragments into each nut.
Seriously, what the hell are they going on about???
Well it gets worse.
No, really.
Because when you watch the ad, ‘the smartest praline in the world’ translates to the ability to be a sexpest on public transport … I kid you not.
The good news is this ad is apparently old … but it still perfectly demonstrates nothing can make you more egotistically stupid, than being successful.
Filed under: Apathy, Attitude & Aptitude, Context, Crap Campaigns In History, Marketing Fail
I get that in life, people find different things exciting.
Some think train spotting is a thrill, for example.
I also understand that people like to think the job or industry they work in is exciting. It lets them feel they have value … importance … a purpose of repute.
But things go wrong when you try to convince others that what you do is exciting when the context they have for it, is the absolute opposite.
Which is my long-winded way of saying why this ad is basically insane.
Bringing the excitement back to dentistry???
What the hell?
And if that wasn’t bad enough, their explanation of what that means is even more delusional.
+ A general check up.
+ Two X-Rays.
+ Scale and clean.
+ All for the low price of 25 quid.
OK, £25 does seem cheap – in fact, it seems TOO cheap – but I have to say, I doubt anyone outside of dentistry would find this news ‘exciting’.
Christ, the British have terrible teeth so they’re definitely not going to buy into this bullshit. In fact, I’d go as far to say that I doubt even dentist-loving American’s would find this news ‘exciting’ … and they go hyper over teeth.
I am sure they are a good company. In fact I know they are. And anyone who goes into dentistry is worthy of extra praise because I can’t imagine what it’s like staring into people’s mouths each day.
But according to whoever wrote this – or thought this – it seems they believe a visit to the dentist can rival a night out to a concert or a theatre or even a night in front of the telly.
To which I want to tell them this.
It doesn’t and it can’t.
So stop making ads that are as painful as a visit to the dentist.
Thank you.