Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Innuendos

The only radio station I can get clearly on my radio in the mornings is a crappy, top 40 type station. I turn it on for noise and this morning heard a seriously disturbing commercial. It was for HD radio (I think) and it was narrated by the old radio, that complained how the owner didn't "touch his buttons" the same way, and it suspected cheating. As if personifying a radio isn't enough, they had to make a gross sexual innuendo.

I'm usually hyper-aware of the sexually explicit nature of advertisements, particularly when it has nothing to do with the product (which is most of the time). Bikini-clad models have nothing to do with a Ford Focus, and shirtless firemen have nothing to do with selling toothpaste.

Beyond the obvious sexist and denigrating nature of such ads, they just lack creativity. I actually think advertisers resort to sexual innuendos when they are out of ideas. It's so depressing that original ideas and the creative process are so lacking. Ads that do actually say something positive or funny are the ones I appreciate anyway.

(Consumerism is a separate discussion... I'm simply referring to the quality of our commercial intake)

Top 100 Ads

(not surprisingly, few are any good...)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

OK so today as I was driving to The Woodlands I saw a sign that said "Busting out? Need more space?? Rent with us" It was for a storage center and the picture on the billboard albeit a cartoon was horrible. There was an incredibly well endowed woman with a red and white polka dot bikini top who was clearly about to "bust out" of her own top.. Well, apparently it's been there for weeks but I just had the distinct pleasure of seeing it. Boy do I wish I had missed it. Advertising is shameless and disgusting. Most definitely, and so not creative you'd for sure think SOMEone should lose a job somewhere. But alas, sex sells, and the bad ads keep coming. I have heard the commercial you are talking about. It's an example of the very reason I rarely listen to the radio. It's just demeaning.