When I first found out about this assignment, I thought it would be an easy task—I was wrong. It wasn’t because there are too many ads to choose from (even though there are), but because there are too many -AVERAGE- advertisements around town. None of which particularly catches my attention anymore. Probably the result of desensitization to the replicated “unique” commercials we see around us.
What I’m trying to say is that it’s harder nowadays to notice the “black sheep” in the flock of “Dollies”.
Anyways, I’ve finally chosen a less worthy advertisement to write about. Seems as though negative things are always easier to finger-point and critique (because they stick out like a sore thumb…). Here it is:
This ‘ad’ was stuck in the door of the HDB apartment I live in. Hand-written on a piece of color-photocopied notebook paper, it pleas for a landlord to sell their property as the buyer is in desperate need for lodging. It seems as though it doesn’t matter whether the apartment is in good or bad condition; landlords are determined a sale with Mr. Seah.
Language-barriers are even taken into consideration; with Chinese translation below. How thoughtful. Oh look, it even has a Chinese fortune-god in the bottom right corner, supposedly for prosperity? This buyer definitely is family-oriented; Mr. Seah has a professed concern for his son and grand-kids. He is undoubtedly direct in his approach, first and foremost quoting his price, and urging readers to “Call me now to view your house!” Grammar fail.
Well, this ‘ad’ was definitely unavoidable. We could choose to ignore it and toss it into the trash; however, that would require the physical act of picking the paper out of the door, glancing over it to see if it’s worth our further attention, processing the immediate appearance of the ad, and deciding whether or not to keep or can it. My decision was the latter; if I hadn’t been keeping an eye out for unworthy ads, I would think that its only worth was to fuel a fire. I’ll make sure that bigfoot media doesn’t scrawl a note on a piece of pink paper and expect anyone to react positively to it.
The Heineken “Walk-In Fridge” campaign was very successful after its launch in early 2009. Here is the first commercial:
Even after repeats of this commercial on ESPN and Star Sports, it still brought tears of laughter to my eyes. The image of the men jumping around and shouting hysterically was engraved in my head. The ad uses the stereotype of every woman’s dream to own a walk-in closet; and it wasn’t surprising to see the ladies jumping around in delight/jealousy when the closet was opened. However, the sounds of the men’s yelling in the other room outgrew the ladies’, revealing a rare sight to see. Their reaction to the ‘Heineken walk-in fridge’ was priceless, making even grown men act like little boys at the sight of the beer.
Here is the subsequent commercial of the “Walk-in Fridge” advertisements:
When it comes to Heineken, the size of the fridge it’s stored in doesn’t matter; same beer, same reaction.
