Skip to main content

Advertising Doesn't Work, But If You Do It This Way...

... it still doesn't work.

"People have learned to distrust advertising. But, if you use [insert foolproof technique being sold here], you will set your advertising apart from the thousands of ads we all see."

That quote is from an article on advertising effectiveness published in a pharmaceutical industry journal (the name of which is left intentionally unmentioned as a sign of blatant disrespect). It went on to detail several advertising and copywriting methods that "work every time".

Here is a tip they left out: If you decide to tell a story about how horrible and broken something is (like advertising), at least give your readers the intellectual respect to wait one issue before contradicting yourself and trying to sell them your services. Interestingly enough, the company that contributed the article was absent from the journal's advertisements. Of course, their phone number, website, e-mail address, and a brief description of their business were right there at the end - just in case someone wanted to discuss the article, surely.


Popular posts from this blog

Recommended Reading

I support literacy (no revelation there, not that many are against it) and would like to share some good books with points of view about the world at large. The first in the series is... Dry by Augusten Burrows. A truly witty, and thus endearingly honest, memoir of an advertising guru's journey into and through sobriety, friendship, and mortality. It seems real enough to pass for autobiographical .
Read more

List Of Convenient Excuses To Avoid Change

1. "That will never work." 2. "That said, the labor laws make it difficult for us to do a lot of the suggestions you put out. And we do live in a lawsuit oriented society." 3. "Can you show me some research that demonstrates that this will work?" 4. "Well, if you had some real-world experience, then you would understand." 5. "I don't think our customers will go for that, and without them we'd never be able to afford to try this." 6. "It's fantastic, but the salesforce won't like it." 7. "The salesforce is willing to give it a try, but [insert major retailer/corporation/partner here] won't stock it." 8. "There are government regulations and this won't be permitted." 9. "Well, this might work for other people, but I think we'll stick with what we've got." 10. "Our team doesn't have the technical chops to do this." 11. "Maybe in the next b
Read more

The Great Firewall Of China

When considering how important it is to preserve the neutrality of the internet, chew on these observations about what China and Iran are already doing. Communism and capitalism are coming increasingly close together when it comes to regulating content that should otherwise be free and freely accessible. What would it have been like if you had to pay for certain, designated books at the library when you were growing up? Try to imagine Ted Turner in one of Kim Jong-Il's jumpsuits....
Read more