How do they come up with this stuff?

Do you ever watch TV ads and ask yourself that exact question? They chose that line? That actress? That really awkward conversation? I have two favorites right now, and both of them have to do with jingles. I think one of the most obvious mistakes you see (or hear) in TV ads are unnecessary jingles. Why do ad agencies think everything needs a little jingle with it. Yes, I am sure there have been studies showing that the human brain is more keen to remember something if done with music (I can remember all the words to a song I haven’t heard in 5 years but can barely remember the age of my patients). To me, however, that doesn’t warrant a bad song. Now, if you can come up with a good one, great! Go for it. Mediocre or bad ones, however, are more likely to turn me, the consumer away. Sometimes I would like to sit in on those brain storming sessions, focus groups, and test audiences just to see from where these thoughts stemmed and who actually backed them up and told them it was a good choice. My three cases:

Gheridelli chocolate with caramel: Yes, the combination of these two things is down right heavenly. Why ruin it with the song???? It makes no sense. Plus, her outfit is downright awful. I am not saying I have great style, but you paid someone to put her in this ugly get up! I highly doubt she just stumbled into the commercial looking that way. Nix the song, change the outfit, you are good to go.

Lego Duplo: Cool. Little kids playing with big legos that their little hands and developing coordination can handle. The song?!? Wait, what is going on here? Are these kids all siblings? Why are we singing? Is this her first time walking? I guess if you look at it, a song is better than someone trying to explain what is going on in the ad. I would change this one all together.

Cat food: Pretty sure this has Acid in it or some other hallucinogen. Basically I think you now just have pot heads buying this and trying it. This didn’t need the cartoons or the song. If I take a step back, however, I can almost see the reasoning behind it: you have to stand out from all the other boring cat food ads AND your fan base is probably crazy cat ladies who love this stuff. Enough said

There ya go! So next time you are writing a TV ad, run it by me first before you embarrass your company