Car adverts

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Blaketon
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Car adverts

Post by Blaketon »

As I don't have a digital TV, since 2010, I have only used my old analogue TV for watching DVDs and VHS (I don't need a licence for that), so I am out of touch with broadcast TV (Though my impression is that much of it is still rubbish). I have the radio for the (Mostly bad) news and my parents have a fully functioning TV. However, for many years, I had become aware that car adverts said nothing about cars or why viewers should buy them. One of the most bizarre (And I remember it because it was so daft) was for a Renault, where the people were shaking their behinds at the camera. All I could infer, from that, was that it was a car for certain types of holes. A few days ago, I saw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD79yY2diMI and noted the advert for the Traveller, The message was goes anywhere, does anything, you'll wonder how you ever managed without it and it showed lots of people getting out of it; two got out of the boot. That was simple and to the point. BL did some adverts in the 1970s and I recall two prisoners saying that if they had had a TR7 or Dolomite Sprint, they might not have been caught. Again the point, that the cars were fast (If not always reliable perhaps), was simply made. It has been my impression, for a long time, that marketing increasingly works by mixing that which smells, with stupidity. Does a certain Mrs Beckham really design for Range Rover and if so, why would that be a good thing?

I'm not saying it doesn't work and it seems increasingly the case that the buying public don't understand what they buy (Despite apparently being so well informed) and it comes down to the whimsical and entirely subjective issue of looks. Someone was in my bike shop the other day and had an issue with a short wheelbase bike, that had very deep wheel rims. He was getting blown all over the road, which with deep rims (Especially) and a short wheelbase, you could expect. The saddle was also killing him. He wasn't a racing cyclist and I suggested his purchase (Not from us) didn't suit his purpose and he advised that he had bought it because he liked the look of it. He took a more comfortable saddle for it (I suggested he try some shallower rims for the stability issues) but was again concerned about the looks, so I reminded him that you can't see the saddle when you are riding the bike and that if a slightly bigger saddle means he can ride, without crippling himself, surely that's more important.
simmitc
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Re: Car adverts

Post by simmitc »

WARNING - danger of "grumpy old men" thread :-?

I couldn't agree more about adverts and marketing. With quite a few TV and cinema adverts that last a very long time, I am left not having the faintest idea what they are advertising - there might be a small logo at the very end, but by then I've lost interest and "switched off".

It's not just car adverts that are poor. Products generally are designed for looks over functionality. I sometimes refer to this as a triumph of design over common sense. A number of electrical products are now supplied with rechargeable batteries. My immediate questions are about battery type and capacity, charge times, charge cycles, and the ability to run direct from mains if the battery is flat; plus weight of the appliance. None of that is available from the product information. Instead I can read that the device "the latest", the "product of the year", or available in pretty colours. All quite useless.

Dave Gorman wrote an interesting piece about "product of the year" - it means only that the company can pay enough to buy the award. :roll:
ianmack
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Re: Car adverts

Post by ianmack »

The problem they have is that cars now are so bland and homogeneous that there isn’t much that can be said on a factual basis that is likely to impress anybody. So instead they offer a fantasy world of exhilaration that might be attained if you buy this car rather than that one, and so we have;

Deserts, I mean seriously, in Britain?

Deserted city streets. How often does that happen?

Cars full of pretty girls laughing. (I wish!)

My greatest pet hate though is those ads that end with a gabbled tirade of terms and conditions. I immediately tune out when these start no matter how attractive the product might have seemed. ‘Terms and conditions apply, this deal is almost certainly a rip off.’
les
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Re: Car adverts

Post by les »

I was going to buy a car following the companies promise to make be a great guy, popular with not a care in the world. However in the end they said something so quickly and garbled, that I couldn't take it in, maybe it was about a particular fault with the car that they didn't really want me to hear, I don't know but it put me off buying ! :-?

irmscher
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Re: Car adverts

Post by irmscher »

They cant do miracles :lol: :lol: .There is a lot of adverts on youtube .
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