I'm struggling to get by these days with all the utter trash seen in Australian advertising. I can't even think of the right words for it.
Keep in mind a lot of this comes from my experience and background as an advertising co-ordinator. The problem is there's no product appeal any more. Crass PR exposure and emotional manipulation techniques have overtaken the game, turning ads away from the traditional role to inform and excite us and towards the new standard of being ultra-woke and showing an unrelenting urge to cater to the lowest common denominator.
Yeo - its time to name and shame.
KFC - "I don't care, I love it" adopted song has basically become the intro to every online video you watch these days. Nothing told about what's on offer or why it's so good. It's nothing but a sound horn for the unhealthy and stupid.
Belong - I'm not even sure this can be classified as a bad ad since it's not even an ad. Don't know who these guys are but they seem to think putting transgenders or minorities on TV and having them admit to how weird and unusual they are is a good way to show how much they care about society. Meanwhile, buy our Internet too while you're at it!
Officeworks - an entire montage of emotional tear-jerking around what it means to have children, how they can help you as you get older, carry on your legacy blah blah blah. Meanwhile, did we mention that we sell pencils and writing paper for your kids?
Telstra - "you can use our service to call your parents and tell them you're gay". Cool thanks, but what exactly is your service? How much does it cost? How is it any better than the countless other services that let people call their parents to tell them they're gay? Can it do anything else or is this just paid TV exposure disguised as a product ad? More information please.
Anti-smoking ads - whilst the whole industry has moven away from using fear in advertising, the Australian government is stuck in the outdated mindset of telling us how terrible we are for our lifestyle choices. Ignoring the fact that they refuse to do anything to actually reduce smoking because it makes them too much money, their ads around fear and disgust rely on techniques which have already been proven ineffective and almost serve to encourage smokers even more given the appeal of seeming like a careless "bad boy" or rebel.
It's sad that Australia used to be such a great country of ads. Our famous ads from 90s for Vegemite, Cottees, Airplane Jelly etc have become cultural icons, not just because they were so genuine but also because they felt relevant and distinctive. It focused on what made the product great and how that could help the customer instead of a thoughtless PR stunt showing off the brand's willingness to adopt the latest trending topics or complex social issues which have nothing to do with them.
Anyway, sorry if this felt like a rant. I honestly enjoyed writing it while laughing at the ads. Sorry also if nobody else finds this as funny as I do- like I said most of this comes from my time working in advertising and the ironic observation of how far off course the industry has gone. Peace.
So it seems.