Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Wed, Apr 26 2006
Will someone please get them what they want so I can get what I want?
I rarely understand vehicle commercials. I have no idea who they're pitching to, but I know it isn't me. I have never really equated cars or trucks with raw sexuality, prestige, social status or any of those other ethereal things advertising seems to continue to foist off on the public. I care a lot more about the way a car looks and feels when I'm sitting inside than what it looks like to other people who see it or see me sitting in it, and that goes for being a passenger or a driver. I do want the thing to be highly visible to other drivers on the road. And it would be especially nice if the vehicle could emit increasingly painful bursts of sound waves to anyone who decided to drive too closely behind me/us on the freeway. Tires should be able to receive air from the vehicle itself, with the mere push of a dashboard button. All vehicles should be equipped with programmable window signs that allow us to tell the driver behind us that his or her left turn signal has been on for the last twelve miles or to tell them thanks for letting the driver into the lane. Someone would eventually abuse this feature by programming obscene phrase into it, but that's not my problem. I want it anyway. Oh, and I want a car that allows me to shut out all outside noise except the necessary horn warnings and emergency vehicle sirens. I'd like other vehicles to be nice and quiet from my perspective too. If I wanted to hear the tin-toy brass and the sewer-banging bass from someone's else's car stereo I'd get out of my own vehicle and get into theirs.
Of course, advertisers have no real control over that sort of thing, because car makers have not yet installed such practical features. Advertisers are stuck juggling what the client wants to sell with what consumers think it is they want from what they buy. Advertisers are simply doing the best they can with what they have, while they imagine what they could really do if what they had was a whole lot better. I've suspected for a long time that this makes advertising people really frustrated and really, really angry. After reading this post, I'm sure of it. While I have no idea what to do about it, it does make me feel better that some of the people in advertising are not having as much fun as I thought they were having trying to get me to buy into things I don't want while I pined for things I do want that no one will make and sell to me.
posted at: 11:01 | category: /Miscellaneous | link to this entry
I rarely understand vehicle commercials. I have no idea who they're pitching to, but I know it isn't me. I have never really equated cars or trucks with raw sexuality, prestige, social status or any of those other ethereal things advertising seems to continue to foist off on the public. I care a lot more about the way a car looks and feels when I'm sitting inside than what it looks like to other people who see it or see me sitting in it, and that goes for being a passenger or a driver. I do want the thing to be highly visible to other drivers on the road. And it would be especially nice if the vehicle could emit increasingly painful bursts of sound waves to anyone who decided to drive too closely behind me/us on the freeway. Tires should be able to receive air from the vehicle itself, with the mere push of a dashboard button. All vehicles should be equipped with programmable window signs that allow us to tell the driver behind us that his or her left turn signal has been on for the last twelve miles or to tell them thanks for letting the driver into the lane. Someone would eventually abuse this feature by programming obscene phrase into it, but that's not my problem. I want it anyway. Oh, and I want a car that allows me to shut out all outside noise except the necessary horn warnings and emergency vehicle sirens. I'd like other vehicles to be nice and quiet from my perspective too. If I wanted to hear the tin-toy brass and the sewer-banging bass from someone's else's car stereo I'd get out of my own vehicle and get into theirs.
Of course, advertisers have no real control over that sort of thing, because car makers have not yet installed such practical features. Advertisers are stuck juggling what the client wants to sell with what consumers think it is they want from what they buy. Advertisers are simply doing the best they can with what they have, while they imagine what they could really do if what they had was a whole lot better. I've suspected for a long time that this makes advertising people really frustrated and really, really angry. After reading this post, I'm sure of it. While I have no idea what to do about it, it does make me feel better that some of the people in advertising are not having as much fun as I thought they were having trying to get me to buy into things I don't want while I pined for things I do want that no one will make and sell to me.
posted at: 11:01 | category: /Miscellaneous | link to this entry
