Progressive Insurance:
See the video here. It cannot be Unseen.
We kick off the New Year with some of the worst ads ever released in 2010. Some of them are horrid; some of them are shocking and some of them we just wonder who was asleep when this got approved. We’re all aware that a good ad campaign can boost a company’s sales for years to come, especially if the ad resonates with the consumer across all age groups and countries, but a bad one can become a joke just as quickly. One of the biggest blunders of the year was Flo – the Progressive saleswoman who just won’t shut up. To pour salt in the wound, they keep using her! Nobody can figure out why this is, since her voice is annoying and the whole concept of picking a box off a shelf and calling it custom insurance is a little backwards. It makes the company look like they mass-produce auto insurance instead of customizing it to the buyer.
State Farm Insurance:
See the video here.
The next winner is the State Farm ‘Pocket Agent’ – I’m also not a fan of the little jingle people sing and a person pops into existence. But the pocket agent ad is unduly annoying: The agent is constantly interrupting the other actor throughout the 31 seconds the commercial lasts, the main actor get increasingly annoying throughout the commercial as his scruffy face and unwashed hair are all too un-state farm agent-like and the floating squares of the State Farm logo are about as annoying as a bad Windows screen saver. Most reactions to this commercial are the same as above – with many people immediately expressing distaste for the man in the commercial. One YouTube comment was ‘I had a nightmare about this guy a few weeks ago. His hairline makes me angry. My stomach legit gets upset when I see him on tv.’ Now, YouTube comments must be taken with several grains of salt, but the message is clear: They really picked the wrong actor for their Ad. His voice and overall appearance are not palatable to the American consumer – he looks dirty, his voice is annoying and the interrupting (a common pet peeve) easy irritates people to the point of turning the channel. Also, his laughing off of said interruption with a smile and an ‘oh ha-ha!’ is enough to make some wrinkle their nose. The flirting at the end could’ve been done without also. I’m not sure about you, but us here in Chicago can’t stand it.
5-hour Energy:
This commercial bothers me on a level that I cannot express. The first time I saw the commercial, it actually made me angry. My thoughts were ‘Why is she working two jobs and her husband is sitting on his butt in his sweatpants?’ Granted, I’m assuming the writers were trying to express sympathy for what many Americans are going through at this point in time – one person who is unemployed and one person who has taken on a part-time job to make up the difference. It is an attempt at connecting with the audience on a personal level, but portraying the wife as a stressed out wife, mother and bread winner while the husband is in his sweatpants waiting for her to come home and make dinner is something that the general American public doesn’t like to be confronted with. The message that the energy drink can help her get through her day without adverse effects is lost in the visual of a struggling middle-income family. Whoever designed or came up with this marketing campaign didn’t do so with any sensitivity to the times.
Chicago Graphic Design
Chicago Print Design
Chicago Web Design
Chicago Internet Marketing
Chicago SEO
Chicago Marketing Company
Chicago Graphic Designer 