I’m only a student but isn’t the point of advertising to tell a
consumer about a product?
I know that in today’s fast-paced, postmodern, media-saturated,
semi-ironic consumer society there may not be time to absorb much
information about a product - but is this an excuse to kill off ideas
altogether?
I refer you to the Adshels for a certain model of mobile phone (the new
Ericsson GA 628) polluting my bus journey to study the great advertising
craft at univer-sity. The ads feature images of models in weird and
wacky outfits - a suit made out of fish, for example.
Brilliantly shot, excellently photographed, great art direction, but
what has this to do with mobile phones? Well, delving into the depths of
psychology in the ad, you are rewarded with the endline on the back of
the postcard, ’Because everyone’s different’, which relates to the fact
that - wait for it - the phones are available in a choice of covers!
At least I think that’s the idea, but surely this is not so marvellous a
concept that it merits such lavish treatment. Perhaps the product is
just crap.
It gets worse. The images have been reproduced as postcards, complete
with no product shot! An image may well be worth a thousand words but
surely the art of copywriting isn’t completely redundant just yet.
A prospective copywriter.
Send your rants to Diary Editor, Campaign, 174 Hammersmith Road, London
W6 7JP.
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