[P1] Apple switcher ads, truth in advertising

[Jack Rodgers]

On Monday, December 16, 2002, at 10:39  AM, Brian Olesky wrote:

> On 12/16/02 6:49 AM, "Jack Rodgers" <jackrodgers at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>> The definition of advertising is 'comments filled with lies'. The 
>> prime
>> lesson taught in advertising school is find out what people don't like
>> about your product and then tell them that problem doesn't exist, if 
>> it
>> stinks tell them that it smells good.
>
> Having been in advertising over 30 years, I'd like to reassure 
> everybody
> that even if I wanted to lie in an ad, the army of lawyers we have to
> receive approval from (including those employed by our agency, our 
> client
> and the media themselves) would never let it pass. As you might 
> expect, with
> the billions of dollars spent every year on media advertising, ours is 
> one
> of the most closely watched industries on earth. Of course some small
> advertisers skirt these rules, but major advertisers like Apple rarely 
> lie,
> if for no other reason than getting negative press for doing it. On 
> those
> relatively rare occasions when major advertisers do lie, the 
> competitors
> usually fall all over themselves to tell the world.
>
> According to everything I've read, the Apple Switchers actually are 
> real
> people. In fact, the biggest story I've read on the subject concerns
> Microsoft doing their own Switcher ad in response, only to have it 
> revealed
> and widely reported (I saw it in David Pogue's article in the NY 
> Times) that
> the one ad they did was a fake! The negative press they got for this, 
> just
> like the negative press Sony got for using a fake movie critic in 
> their ads,
> just isn't worth it. So obviously there are some examples of untruth in
> advertising, but those who lie usually pay for it in the end. It's 
> very hard
> to maintain a product or service's sales when people who purchase it 
> find
> out it doesn't live up to expectations.
>
> Finally, rather than finding out "what people don't like about our 
> product
> and then telling them the problem doesn't exist" the general rule is 
> to find
> out what people do like about our product, and then emphasize that.

My paragraph stated that advertising is basically finding out what 
people don't like about a product and then telling them that it doesn't 
exist. Seems like this rebuttal from someone in advertising fits that 
definition quite emphatically.

> You may all now feel free to flame me to death.

Nope. Not me. But you might find me laughing myself to death.

Cigarette advertising was banned after all of those years of telling 
people how good cigarettes were for them. Hopefully sometimes soon 
alcohol ads will also be banned. Automobile ads features cars doing 
illegal things and convince and entice people to drive recklessly and 
dangerously.

Remember the collapse of the stock market recently. And the flood of 
ads proclaiming safety, profitabilty, wisdom, and good advice...all 
from people who were unable to show this to their clients who were 
loosing money hand over fist.

Outright lies? Fewer than in past years. But many, and Apple is in the 
front here, have learned how to pull chains and ring bells with ad copy 
that seems to promise so much but in effect promises little or is 
written so carefully and thus designed to be misleading but it is hard 
to prove otherwise.

---
How about a switcher ad for adding software, installing a printer or 
any other action which requires a password...that you don't remember... 
  :)
Jack Rodgers

Email: jackrodgers at earthlink.net
Web:  www.jackrodgers.com
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