Adverts

[Marky B]

As we are a few months of celebrating ITV's fiftieth anniversary and thus fifty years of television advertising (the first one being Gibbs SR toothpaste),I thought I would open up a topic on adverts. Any favourites or any you absolutely hate?

At the moment I wish I was rich enough to throw a brick at the television everytime Sweety the Chick and that stupid frog comes on.

However,I do like the James Nesbitt ones for directory enquiries and the little boy robbing a bank so his dad can buy a new car.

Ta Ta

Marky B

[Rob Compton]

Good thinking, Marky!



My favourite at present is the New Zealand travel ad, 100% pure. Great cutting of video images of fabulous scenery, and superb music.



If you go to The official site for New Zealand Travel & Business: UK - Ireland Edition > New Zealand you can see the advert, and they have a clever flash device that shows you where each of the scenes are.



The thing about adverts, of course, is that sometimes their ability to tell a complex story in less than a minute, means they can be mini-masterpieces.



(My other favourite is the Vauxhall car ad with the two little boys..."someone hasn't been to the toilet!")



rgds

Rob

[DB7]

Those esure averts with Michael Winner do my head in, he even tried that 'calm down dear it's only a commercial' catchphrase on last night's HIGNFY and Paul Merton tersely replied 'Thank God we've got that out of the way.'



Favourites are the PG Tips monkeys, the Smash aliens, Kia-Ora 'I'll be your dog', the R Whites secret lemonade drinker, Ralph Little's Knor Panda and the Cresta polar bear.

[plasticjock]

My favs at the moment are the Wall's sausages doggie ads and the VW Golf GTI Gene Kelly ad (technically superb).

Pet hates....continuous Churchil/Free Solicitors/Loans and those earwax and fungus infected toenail ads....gruesome!

[samkydd]

The Peugeot 206 ad set in India with the Bhangra Nights song. Brilliant.

[Steve Crook]

I laughed at the Twix ad with the couple on the tandem



Steve

[smudge]

There are quite a few old ads I like. In the VHS days I would often compile old tapes of my faves ; something I don't do on digital - too much faff !



It's quite interesting to re-visit those old ads once in a while and see the items of the early/mid 80s which never took off.



Age old faves are things like SMASH, PG TIPS (Do you know the pianer's on my foot ?) and so on..



The one I'd REALLY like to see again is LIMARA body spray with that BRILLIANT vocal on 'Remember My Name' by Stevie Lange.



Fans of the old ads should visit : TVARK | The Television Museum where they have a fair selection, some going back almost as far as 1955.



SMUDGE

[David Brent]

I would assume that we have completely different ad's to the one's seen in the Uk.

Some ad's are so intricate, arty and reliante on action shot's, sexy scene's ect.. that many times after viewing them it's difficult to fathom out exactly what the product was they were trying to sell in the first place.

Some ad's you wonder how they ever got past the drawing board, how the large companies ok'd such rubbish in their brands name and what the f*#$ it has to do with the product.

Worldwide the most popular adds have always been the one's featuring animals.

Coke's Polar Bear, the puppy with the toilet roll ect..

The UK ad's I remember and loved were of course the monkey's in PG Tips "Avez vous a cuppa?" and that lovely lady sucking the Cadbury Flake.



Dave.

[David Brent]

By the way, is there anybody out there that has honestly bought something after seeing it being advertised on television?

Methinks there arn't many.



Dave.

[samkydd]

I always thought it was an industry where would-be film makers could learn their craft, as with pop vids, but so very few ads are any good. Advertising people are supposed to be creative, but looking at their track records over the years they haven't been up to the job! There are some memorable ones yes, but not that many!



The best I can remember were the Duracel battery ads on the radio featuring Peter Cook on Capital back in 1980 ish.



Any TV ads that feature the company's owner; Bernard Matthews, Victor Kyam are always awful, and the silly sod selling the hearing aids on cable. Those ones from Europe that are dubbed into English like Kinder Surprise choccy eggs are rubbish too, and the ex-soap stars selling cheapo furniture on interest free credit, (as if we believe that they'd actually have a bloody awful suite like that one in their own house).



The worst has to be L'Oreal, all the women have that same made-up American stretchy-vowel awful voice, and the dialogue is just yeeeech! You get some 18 year old on there saying "Wrinkles, I hate wrinkles!" Well who the f***ing hell does like wrinkles eh? And it'll be another 25 years before you have to worry about getting any you stupid cow! They also invent these names for nutrients and enzymes that supposedly exist exclusively in their shampoos and stuff, and are we really that stupid! Nutragena, schmutragina!



Adverts for women's stuff are pretty dire too! I don't want to know about vaginal thrush when I'm sitting in front of the telly for a romantic night in with a new girlfriend thank you very much!



What annoys me about voiceovers is that you know it's Martin Clunes, Stephen Fry, or Quentin Wilson etc but they always say "we" as if they belong to that company "At Shell we aim to......." etc. Crap, they'll be saying "we" to any number of other products and manufacturers during the course of the evening. We're not thick, we know it's Martin Clunes doing the voiceover and we also know that he's got sod all to do with your company!



The other thing is that when an ex-soapster is in an ad, they always run the ad during the break for that soap. The big tall lesbian off The Bill who got knifed to death is on during their advert breaks at the moment, and ex Coro ones often turn up in Coro's break, and the Tesco trolley ones when they re-run Frost and Morse (David Jason and Kevin Whateley).



Another thing, what is the relevance of Linda Barker and electrical products in Currys? Why is she on there and how will her looking like a twat in the ads increase sales? It puts me off going in the place. "Always cutting prices", well if they cut her huge wad from the advertisement budget they could spend more on making decent ads! And as for B&Q, "This shyka stoyle kitching is under three 'undred powns", awful stuff but Homebase is far worse. I just don't get the Neil Morrisey and Lesley Ash connection with DIY at all.



I've already closed my Halifax account because of the tedious Howard ads. It's a novelty the first time, sure, but he gets on your tits after a few years! Cannon and Ball doing double glazing, well they weren't funny in their heyday and they're even less funny now, especially with that look of desperation in their eyes!



Specsavers! The latest ads set in an office, do they really think that we would think it was funny and associate it with the comedy series The Office? It's embarassing to watch! Do they not view these bloody adverts before letting them loose on the nation?



And last but not least is the patronising awfulness of Sharon Osbourne extolling the virtues of Asda prices. A woman with millions and millions upon millions telling us what great budget fashions are available to the struggling mum with fashion conscious children at Asda. Aaaaaaaargh! I feel like putting my fingers down my throat just thinking about it!



So that's some of my whinge out of the way, thank you very much for listening!

[Rob Compton]

Do I take it you ain't very keen then?



I suspect the wrinklie one isn't really aimed at you sam!



rgds

Rob

[Marky B]

Thanks,I thought that girl in the ad for whatever who messes peoples' clothes and washes them was the tall lesbian from the Bill.

Double glazing must be the naffest of all adverts. Ken Morley forever doing his Reg Holdsworth stint and the f*****g joker in the top hat and cape,BOGOF. I swear if I ever win the lottery,I am going to put a contract out on him.

Seriously,though,I notice some adverts,such as the Marmite as the Blob,feature English actors yet they are filmed abroad. Why?

Ta Ta

Marky B

[Marky B]

Thanks,Smudge for that website. Some good material there.

They're tasty,tasty,very,very tasty,they're very tasty! Name the product.

Ta Ta

MArky B

[samkydd]

Originally posted by Marky B@Apr 29 2005, 12:33 PM

Thanks,I thought that girl in the ad for whatever who messes peoples' clothes and washes them was the tall lesbian from the Bill.

Double glazing must be the naffest of all adverts. Ken Morley forever doing his Reg Holdsworth stint and the f*****g joker in the top hat and cape,BOGOF. I swear if I ever win the lottery,I am going to put a contract out on him.

Seriously,though,I notice some adverts,such as the Marmite as the Blob,feature English actors yet they are filmed abroad. Why?

Ta Ta

Marky B

I suppose if you're an ad company landed with making a film about something really mundane and boring you build in location shooting and 5 star accommodation into the budget to make it more bearable by getting a few days away with the crew in some lovely exotic place. Marmite is made in Burton-on-Trent, and to film the ad there would be scraping the bottom of the barrel, which is of course how they make the stuff!

[Freddy]

Great web site Smudge.



I hate those which feature kids or adults on the toilet with some smelly thing, can't they open the window or strike a match. Even a Water company tells me how clean they make my water by having a big hairy bloke sitting on the throne.

Also why is it when those earwax/fungal adverts always appear when I'm eating something.



But on a more serious note sometimes when I have taped a programme I have noticed that the ads tend to last for about 4 minutes and there are more breaks so a two hour drama could easily be reduced to 90 minutes.

When I taped Coronation street such a big fuss was made about showing 5 times a week but you take away the time of sponsors and other ads you have a once 30 minute programme lasting only 20-25 minutes.

Nowadays I usually tape and fast forward.



I sometimes think my Mum prefers my Dad as much as me.

You ought to see the pile of beans she gives my Dad for tea

I need Heinz beans as much as him

In fact I need them more

'Cause my Dads very very old

and me I'm only four

I'm six really, but it didn't fit



Freddy

[samkydd]

]Well many of my parents generation wouldn't watch ITV at all. Wouldn't allow its Butlins type shows into their living rooms, and adverts were always looked upon as low class and vulgar, and the people in them. Proper actors would have nothing to do with them, to risk losing their dignity and soiling their reputations by appearing in them for a few grubby pounds, no way!



ITV is still a low class channel but the BBC is doing its best to compete with it.



I also notice now that the cable channels seem to cram more and more ads into a break, and ITV and C4 are following suit.

[Steve Crook]

I rarely watch anything live, I record things that look interesting then I can skip on to the next programme if they're not as good as I thought they might have been. It also means I can fast forward through the adverts. So I only see a few ads that catch my eye.



I must be an advertiser's nightmare



Steve

[smudge]

Originally posted by SteveCrook@Apr 29 2005, 08:46 PM

I rarely watch anything live, I record things that look interesting then I can skip on to the next programme if they're not as good as I thought they might have been. It also means I can fast forward through the adverts. So I only see a few ads that catch my eye.



I must be an advertiser's nightmare



Steve

Same here Steve, which is why the adverts never really bothered me as I was always dubbing the films to watch later ; without the ads. But one or two did catch the eye - occasionally there was some very good crafting/writing/humour/concept.



Maybe they never made me BUY the product, but they were entertaining to some degree.



Most modern ads are terrible, I agree - which is probably why I just wipe digital ones, and the number of ad breaks (particularly on SKY) is terrible, as are the DOGS and squeezed captions.



I know Sam unequivocally hates them all, but the world would be rather boring if we were all the same, now wouldn't it Sam ?



SMUDGE

[David Brent]

At least you have 'END OF PART ONE' in the UK.Enough time for a cuppa or a slash!

Over here commercial television works as such-

Start of program - opening credits.Usually followed by commercials.

Less than ten minutes of program to every 3 to 4 minutes of ad's.

No warnings, they just stick commercials into whatever part of the program they wish plus the obligatory plug for upcoming program's.

It's a bit like "We'd like to interupt this commercial to bring you a program"

Now they have infomercial programs dedicated to sponsors that last up to 30 minutes.They are supposed to be instructional but are nothing more than one big long paid commercial.

Even so called "current affairs"programs over here have been accussed of promoting products in their news stories i.e. new model car release, do ageing skin care cream's work? ect..

There once used to be regulations here on how many commercials could be shown in an hour but this was relaxed under pressure from the station's.

Now it's a free for all.

It's diabolical and very much based on the same rate they show commercial's in the USA - all the time!

I've noticed more and more ad's creeping into Satellite/Cable television.You pay a premium price and still get lumbered with commercials and needless previews.

Seems most people hate them - if only the companies making the commercials would get the message.



Dave.

[samkydd]

Originally posted by smudge@Apr 29 2005, 10:05 PM

Same here Steve, which is why the adverts never really bothered me as I was always dubbing the films to watch later ; without the ads. But one or two did catch the eye - occasionally there was some very good crafting/writing/humour/concept.



Maybe they never made me BUY the product, but they were entertaining to some degree.



Most modern ads are terrible, I agree - which is probably why I just wipe digital ones, and the number of ad* breaks (particularly on SKY) is terrible, as are the DOGS and squeezed captions.



I know Sam unequivocally hates them all, but the world would be rather boring if we were all the same, now wouldn't it Sam ?



SMUDGE

Well actually I don't hate them all, I really enjoy ones that are well made, humourous, clever and original. The Citroen C5 transformer for example, the banned X-Box one from birth to the grave, the Indian Peugeot 206, the old Hamlet ones.



I dislike the ones where they patronise us, and ones where they feature trendy lifestyle-type people (remember the awful Cafe Hag yuppie ads with Sean Scott and the new bitesize Shredded Wheat one), financial services ads, fast food outlets, supermarkets and washing powder products and others previously listed in my rant.



One of the best in recent memory which I thought was very funny was the woman tipping out the can of Carling around the house so her partner was lapping it up with his tongue so he licked the house clean, and at the end she tips it inbetween her legs but the can's now empty!



But I'm an ad man's nightmare because I'm not influenced at all, and if I dislike an ad I will go out of my way to boycott that product or company and I refuse to wear anything with a logo printed all over it!



But I've noticed that terrestrial commercial channels are sneakily trying to cram longer ad breaks in like the satellite/cable channels do, but it's still not as bad as some countries. In India they put ads on every 10 minutes for about 10 minutes, and the ads are repeated during the same ad break! Nightmare! If its a film you're watching it completely ruins it and you end up switching off because the ads drive you mental!



I remember years ago ITV sometimes used to leave the film running during ad breaks, and when you went back to it it was five minutes further on than when you left it! Unforgiveable!



Here's a challenge for you, pull out a couple of old video taped programmes recorded from ITV/C4 from say 10 years ago and time the ad breaks. Then do the same with something recorded recently.