This Week in Badvertising
Dear lord, Accuquote. Could you be any more obvious at toying with people’s emotions?
Crying babies in a life insurance ad? Tasteless, because they’re trying to get you to buy something.
Crying babies in an anti-smoking ad? Tasteful, because they’re trying to get you to stop buying something.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 8:23 am and is filed under Badvertising. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
April 7th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Matt Fried says:“Grimley, we need to sell anti-smoking.”
“Well boss - what about a crying baby?”
“Explain.”
“Let’s take consumers back to the most frightening moments of their lives as children. Except instead of a fear of being abandoned, we’ll substitute in lung cancer instead. It’s Obama’s America. People will appreciate the honesty.”
“…Grimley. You’ve done it again!”
April 7th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
holycalamity says:good lord, if *that* was the kid I was leaving behind, I’d make sure to withdraw all my money and go out after having spent all my money on a coke-heroin-hooker binge.
April 7th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Gwin says:Chris - there is a series of ads in the tunnel at 42nd between the ACE and the 7…the ads are so horrifically bad (in a tacky 80’s way)… I think of you every time I walk by them and wonder how you would tear them to shreds.
They are for a gym on the UES called the Edge. There are about 5 total… one actually has a dude with an unbuttoned shirt (to show his 6-pack) cradling a baby. ugh! they are horrible. You should check ‘em out.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Todd says:What if Planned Parenthood ran an ad with a crying baby that was intended to prevent you from having a baby? Tasteless condom ad or tasteful family planning?
April 9th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
holycalamity says:Todd, Zazoo condoms beat you to the punch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xEvDKVxh6U
April 10th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Todd says:THAT IS AWESOME!
April 10th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
golublog says:This kid is better then most grown up actors. But the ethical implications hmm.
April 12th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
plumpdumpling says:My boyfriend literally almost started crying the other day when we saw that second ad for the first time.
I know that putting “literally” in front of “almost” doesn’t make it any more dramatic, but crying at a commercial is a pretty big deal in my book.
April 20th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
mk.fullofthink.com » accugross says:[…] I realize that random, interchangeable online banner ads shouldn’t merit a nanosecond’s worth of my attention, seeing how they’re usually nothing more than manically dancing silhouettes urging me to go back to school or refinance my mortgage, but this one made me laugh. And feel a little creeped out.Why didn’t you get a life insurance policy, Dad? Also, you never taught me how to throw a baseball.Okay, not really. I think it was more like confusion. I’m not going to get up in arms over an internet ad for a life insurance company that anyone with any sense has no business clicking on anyway. All I was thinking was “Where’d that photo come from?” and “That’s really jarring, it being smack in the middle of the XX Factor’s debate about the date rape scene in Observe and Report and all.”And yes, I know that companies like these – ones peddling a stripped-down product and based solely on the internet – are going to use stock art, so it’s not like they had an agency shoot this for them, or swiped it from grieving family’s Flickr page (though that would make it a lot creepier and hilarious if they did). But, that’s the best they could do? They thought a young boy crying his eyes out on top of his father’s grave would bring in the big bucks? Ads like these usually feature images of nurturing, happy families enjoying the quiet moments in life, and that’s so standard now, but maybe there’s a reason for that. And since then, I’ve found another ad for Accuquote on the same blog, this time featuring a kid on the ground, crying over a flat-plaque tombstone. I didn’t think the ads could get worse, but they topped (bottomed?) themselves. Good job. (I thought I saved these ads on my computer but was mistaken, so the image above comes from east village idiot.) […]
April 21st, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Amanda says:I saw that anti-smoking ad for the first time the other day and I started crying. And then I threw away all of my roommate’s cigarettes while sobbing.
Okay, I didn’t do either of those things-but that’s an awful commercial.
May 18th, 2010 at 1:05 am
Kylie Sanchez says:Lung Cancer scared the hell out of me that is why i do not smoke cigarettes anymore.;~”
May 21st, 2010 at 9:47 am
insurance for backpacker says:Fantastic blog about insurance
Bookmarked!
July 25th, 2010 at 11:17 pm
Brianna Lee says:lung cancer can be avoided if you stay out of air pollutants like some chemicals and tobacco smoke.-,-