Shit happens. People live. They Die. Some of them even pay taxes. They also complain and more often than not, when they have something nice to say they keep it to themselves, but when they have something they want to get off their chests, they look for the highest steeple and shout their friggen lungs off.
Then along came e-mail, and most recently blogs. And consumers are responding accordingly.
We've all heard the marketing legend about the average consumer sharing positive experience with 4-5 friends/romans/countrymen and negative ones with about 17-20.
e-mail and blogs Giambi those numbers by multiples upon multiples and that's both a good and a bad thing.
Marketers are paranoid enough when it comes to feedback. CEO's are even worse and typically will be prepared to abandon ship at the first whiff of smoke.
So with that rather verbose set-up to the real reason behind this post i.e. let's not freak out at our consumers who (being human) may too choose to get their freaks on (often at our expense), I do want to give credence to this letter (posted in AdJabs) which was sent in to The Daily Review.
Bottom line is that the sentiments echo those gleaned from the Yankelovich study which I blogged a short while ago: consumers aren't as dumb as they used to be and certainly not as dumb as we give them credit (as evidenced by the quality/tone/level of current advertising messaging)
If we don't wisen up...starting with acknowledging that our consumers are pretty smart beings...there's going to be a lot more where this came from.
P.S. Remember David Ogilvy? "The consumer isn't a moron...she is your wife"
Here is the letter:
Insulting TV commercials lead to vendetta that never thaws
I THINK most people would agree that, on a day-to-day basis, the most effective intelligence-insulting device ever invented is television. Particularly television commercials. If you can watch any 10 TV commercials on a given night and not have your intelligence insulted at least once, you are harder to offend than a tourist-trap rug salesman.
I've grown used to this, however, and no longer gnash my teeth when I'm told that failing to use a certain mouthwash will leave me with breath that would bring a camel to its knees, or that failure to employ a particular deodorant will find me sitting by the phone, wondering why no one ever calls. I've learned to live with low-level inanities like these.
But once in a while a commercial will come along that is so crass, so inherently repulsive, so contemptuous of my intellect that it cannot go overlooked. And I slip into my vendetta mode.
First, I memorize the name of the product (which, of course, is just what the sponsor wants me to do), and then I swear a solemn oath that at no time, and under no circumstances, will I ever, ever buy that accursed thing.
I regard that vow with the same religious fervor that a Trappist monk regards his vow of silence. And I stick to it, for the rest of my life.
I REALIZE that this is an excessive response, but it seems to me that a commercial that grossly trashes your mind carries a message, and the message is this:
"We know this is inane. We know it's crass, strident and offensive. But it's good enough for the likes of you. You'll remember our product, and you'll buy it."
One way â probably the more mature way â to respond to that message is to merely shrug or laugh it off.
But another way â my way â is to give your full attention to the TV screen and think: "Well, we'll just see about that, buster."
SOMETIMES THIS costs me dearly. I once heard a commercial for a well-known line of frozen desserts that was so intelligence-trampling that I immediately swore my oath of vengeance.
Now, as it happened, I really liked that product, and had bought it and enjoyed it on several occasions. But it was about 40 years ago when I heard that commercial, and I've never bought anything made by that company since.
Sometimes, when I'm passing the freezer section in my supermarket, I'll see those frozen goodies and remember how tasty they were. And a few times I've even been tempted to forgive, forget and fork over â but I never have.
A vow is a vow.
I probably used to spend about $50 a year on that product, so I figure that, over the 40-year spread, that single tasteless commercial has cost the company a cool two grand, just from me. I find that thought positively heartwarming.
And just to show you how merciless my vengeance can be, today I can't even remem-ber what the commercial said.
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