When I was a teenager, over the course of about a week, three different companies starting building self-storage facilities along the same block. It was as if, unbeknownst to each other, they all bought the same consumer research poll that indicated my neighborhood was full of people with too much stuff willing to pay for storage.…
Read MoreMixed messages
The purpose of any advertising is fairly straightforward – to get you to do something. More often than not they want you to buy something, but ads can also try to convince you to think or feel a certain way about something. However, lately I’ve been seeing more and more ads that just slightly miss the…
Read MoreThe Advertising Twilight Zone
Now in month 10 of unemployment, I have taken up a new pastime: commercial heckling. I often find myself screaming at television ads, or more specifically, screaming at the creative teams behind the ads. “What the hell were you thinking?” is the most common jeer, but in a close second is the ever-popular, “I could…
Read MoreThe Glory of Infomercials
An insomniac since childhood, I have long been acquainted with what some consider the bane of late-night television: infomercials. However, unlike your average viewer, I happen to love paid programming. There is a strange sincerity in the overt enthusiasm of a tv salesman. Even though he may only be selling a mop, he is going…
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Positively Natalie 