YOURS IS SMALLER THAN MINE

During my stay in the media wonderland that is America, I can’t help but croon Aladdin’s soulful ditty. ‘A whole new world’ indeed. It’s the mecca of new age exploration. It plots the GPS coordinates for the rest of the world. So why do I get the sinking feeling we are getting a little lost?

With specific regard to advertising in the United States, I feel the urge to say (and thanks to blogging, my compulsion is gratified) that the American adverting arena has left me a little deflated. American advertisers have long held the reputation for being the industry heavyweights. But where there was once a plethora of thought provoking campaigns with brilliant concepts and game changing results, now rests a children’s school yard mentality, with a ‘my daddy’s gun is bigger than yours” approach to marketing. Its lazy advertising and I’m disgruntled.

I’m not a complete Neanderthal. I knew comparative advertising existed before I landed. But even so, when I see or hear it in a public arena, I still find it a bit shocking. It reminds me of that awkward feeling you get when you watch a couple snap at each other during a dinner party. Those are the moments when suddenly your fork becomes the most fascinating thing you’ve ever seen.

The first time I heard a really raw advert of this nature I was strolling down the aisles of one of the many planet-sized department stores in Miami. When the offensive advert aired over the sound-system I had to resist the urge to nudge the shopper nearest to me and whisper conspiratorially ‘did you HEAR that?” Having been here for a few months subsequent, I’m glad I didn’t. At one point, I considered getting the words ‘tourist’ tattooed on my forehead but I’m glad I didn’t do that either.

So it’s allowed here in America. Ok. I can appreciate that. I can watch television and witness the sponsored massacre of another brand while I merrily munch on my dinner. Let me re-phrase that. ‘I can pretend that I appreciate that. I can awkwardly gape around the room making wild hand gestures to the television and berate my fellow watchers for not being as agog and aghast at the disparaging remarks being made on live television." You know, up until the 5th century Gladiators entertained audiences in the Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. So I guess it’s not an entirely foreign concept. But don’t you think as members of civilized society we should have higher standards? And forget for a minute the brazen unsophisticated message these advertisements relay, what ever happened to thinking out of the box? What are marketing execs being paid for if this is the drivel they are producing?

Perhaps it’s my South African upbringing. Or perhaps it’s due to the carrot I can’t seem to dislodge from my ass, but I get all kinds of squirmy when I’m witness to this form of advertising. I’m also the nightmare audience for these brands because their public lambasting more often than not has me reaching for their competitors product. I always root for the under-dog.

I’m not naive enough to believe that a lot of the comparative claims made don’t have value. If product X is a lot better than product Y, I want to know about it. My issue lies in the fact that with the laxy-daisy guidelines to comparative advertising paired with subjectivity and soiled ethics, as the idiot staring at my television I’m being presented with a somewhat bias case. And in very bad taste I might add. My responsibility as a consumer is to manage the media swamping and reach my own conclusions. Not have a suit slop it up and serve it to me. Where is the fun in that?

I stand by the good ol’ ethics of pre-historic advertising. The guiding principle in all comparisons should be that products or services are promoted on their own merits and not on the demerits of competitors. As much as its results driven, advertising is entertainment, and as such, agencies need to work a little harder than ‘buy this product because that one sucks.’