Who Are The Ad Wizards That Came Up With That One?

Everyone knows that sex sells, and it is no surprise that plenty of commercials have always used sex appeal to sell their products. But one thing I've been noticing recently is that the way that it is used in more recent commercials has kind of changed, at least I think they have.

From what I remember, people used to always criticize beer commercials for always showing regular guys surrounded by hot chicks as they drank Bud Light or Miller Lite (I just noticed that, why does one spell it "Light" and the other spell it "Lite"?). The criticism was that the commercials were misleading and superficial - just because you drink a certain beer, doesn't mean you are going to get a lot of chicks!

I'm not going to argue that the message is stupid, but if you think about the way those commercials presented the message, they were kind of making those suggestions in a "subtle" way, if you can call it that. What they do is show the given situation in the commercial - and then it is up to the viewer to make that connection in their mind, presumably on a subconscious level. They don't come out and just say "hey, if you drink our beer/use our product, hot girls will be all over you", instead they simply show you that scenario and hope that you put it together and figure out the message. Not that it's a huge leap or anything.

Comparing that to some of the commercials I see today, I get the sense that the old advertising philosophy has been replaced by a much more overt, "beat you over the head" approach. Now, we see a guy using Axe body spray, immediately leading to a hot chick in an elevator, his friend's mother, or a bunch of cheerleaders jumping on him. Or we see a guy use a certain kind of aftershave or razor blade, then meets his roommate's girlfriend, who is immediately all over him, rubbing his face and calling him "Francesco". There's even a Harley Davidson commercial where a girl dates a bunch of guys but rejects them all, until the guy in a Harley comes along, and of course he scores with her.

I'm just waiting for a commercial for Microsoft Office to come out, where they show a guy using Corel Spreadsheet or something and getting rejected by every girl in the office. Then he starts using Excel, and all of a sudden the ladies are lining up to pivot his tables.

Whether it's a commercial for body spray, aftershave, breath mints, chewing gum, a motorcycle, brand of whiskey, or whatever it is, the message in these ads are much more clearly stated: "Use our product, and you will hook up." They don't just pose the scenario and let your subconscious mind make the connection, they basically come out and just tell you exactly what to think outright. The message is not just implied like it used to be, it's basically stated in a way that you have to be retarded to not understand.

Maybe I have overlooked old commercials that have done this in the past, but as I was sayinig, it seems like this is more of a recent trend. Ironically, I almost think beer commercials are more tame nowadays than they used to be, more about making you laugh than pressuring you to drink a brand to be socially accepted.

If it is indeed a recent trend, I'm not sure what exactly that says about our country's development as a whole. Does this mean that advertisers have given up on trying to make us think with their ads, by cleverly placing thoughts in the back of our minds? Have they decided that we are all like overgrown children who can be told what to think?

Maybe a more interesting question is, what's worse - when advertisers try to be sneaky and appeal to your subconscious, or when they don't even try to be subtle anymore, and simply make heavily exaggerated claims that can't be backed up? On the one hand, it would be nice to feel like they respect our intelligence enough for them to believe that they have to be clever in their marketing strategy. But then, if it's the same message they're trying to send, then why bother putting up the charade? No point in beating around the bush right?