Hipocrisy in Advertising

[epic]

Some advertisements are such hipocrisy that it's appalling. For example, if you drive on I-70, you'll see billboards for Beau Funeral Homes. They always have messages like, "Use drugs and get stoned," or "Drinking and driving is a grave mistake," both have pictures of tombstones on them. Read between the lines, people! It's reverse psychology. They come up with a catchy phrase designed to deter you from drugs and drunk driving, but in reality, they want you to rent a limousine in which you and four of your buddies will sniff coke and drop acid. They even want you to get sloppy drunk and pop the keys in your Ford Explorer and embark on that 12-mile ride home through busy intersections and highways.

I like when they have gambling addiction commercials from Harrah's Casino. The CEO of the casino comes on TV to talk about how gambling addictions are bad. Granted they are a tragic part of our society, but the place makes money off of all the gambling freaks who can't stop taking 3-to-1 bets on Red or Black.

Here's the equation, folks: You do stupid **** = They get paid. The world is two-faced. Then again maybe I'm a pessimist, and they put down thousands of dollars in advertising to make sure you didn't end up in a funeral home, or with your face stuck to the blackjack table while your wife is selling herself in Vegas for sex because you keep gambling your Sunoco paycheck.

Share some of your favorite Advertisements

 

[vat_man]

Well, your first example probably wasn't a good one - but I agree wholeheartedly with your second point.

My favourites were always the smoking ads showing these glamourous, fit healthy people with white teeth - just hilarious.

 

[epic]

I thought my first example was good, could have left out the Drinking and Driving part though.

Those smoking ads are hilarious to, forgot about those until just now

 

[Pupik]

The goal of advertising is the quickest and easiest way to separate you from your money. I'd say about 99% of the time, ads are put in place to make sure you feel incompetent, fearful, incomplete, useless, or socially unacceptable if you don't buy their product.

There are a handful of exceptions: the Truth campaign which shows youthe evils of smoking. Of course, reading between the lines will lead you to the fact that Philip Morris has paid for the ads, mainly because the Feds forced them to do so as part of the agreement in a class-action settlement.

Another is a radio ad I've just heard this week; it's a 30-second ad that tells you to do something nice for other people, and that when you do so, something beneficial in return will happen to you (it's not said in a moralizing or religious way, either). But of course, the last 10 seconds of the ad are Brought To You By ____, The Home Of The 29-cent Color Copy! (But it's nice to see the majority of the ad air-time wasn't really an ad.)

 

[Red Eye Racer]

Originally posted by epic
gambling freaks who can't stop taking 3-to-1 bets on Red or Black.

2-1 friend,..... 2-1


Though not hypictrital, but idiotic,... I really hate the VISA commercial displaing the Steelers guy who can't get the right music for the football game. When the horrible music plays,... one of the cuts is to TWO referee's (the guy with the white hat). Well,... contradicotory to the commercial,.... THERE'S ONLY ONE GUY ON THE FIELD WITH A WHITE HAT!

How an NFL commercial can be this ignorent is beyond me and really addgitates the crap outta me.

 

[epic]

^ Ahahahaha I havent seen that commercial in a while, I think they took it off the air down here

Good point 2to1

 

[1X83Z]

What you define as hypocrisy, epic, I define as careful marketing.

Yes, I'm just that evil.

Same for the cigarette ads -- good marketing. Same for SUV ad (Grand Cherokee) where he climbs the roof of his home with his Grand Cherokee to adjust his satellite dish. If they're selling the product, then the ads are getting through.

 

[epic]

I was talking about things that try to deter you from things, I think some ads are good commercial ads, but some are just blah, and blah makes me mad. Mad enough to kill

 

[rjensen11]

I liked those commercials for Apple saying they're the most powerful computers. Obviously, they havn't seen my brain! Hehehe, Doh!

 

[milefile]

Originally posted by epic
I was talking about things that try to deter you from things, I think some ads are good commercial ads, but some are just blah, and blah makes me mad. Mad enough to kill

You know... you might want to be more careful what you say.

 

[milefile]

Meh.. that link doesn't work. Oh well. It just informing you of Carnivore. The FBI's domestic spyware. Big Brother is Watching.

I also just remembered one of the Super Bowl ads. The one that equates teen pregnancy with smoking pot. This, sandwiched between endless Budwieser commercials literally laden with sex.

And then there's the ones that say "drugs kill dreams..." Right. Unless you Ozzy in the next commercial for Pepsi. The hypocrisy is truly infuriating and disturbing.

I have been in a "mood" ever since I saw that. And it's not just because I smoke pot, either. It's because it is a lie. It's becasue they seek to seperate and divide people with these lies. The audacity of these proaganda ads has gotten out of control in the past year or two. They do no good. They are a liberal (yes, liberal) vendetta, revenge against freedom for being so complicated. So many Americans seem to truly hate freedom. It's very sad and I feel more compelled to do something about it but I don't know what. Maybe an essay or something. A website? I dunno. I just can't let it go. It is my moral outrage.