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Growing up I always thought of advertising as an annoyance. Something that interrupted my cartoons, took up too much space in my comic books, and made it hard to find a good radio station. While they still can be annoying (why am I paying for Hulu AND watching commercials?!) I am old enough to see the art and manipulation in them. It had me thinking of the times when I was very susceptible to them. While most advertising has probably had more of a subtle or subliminal effect on me, these are four times when I can remember being directly affected.
Expedia
While I was a little annoyed at first when I saw these commercials that were blatantly ripped off the gnome from Amelie, they stood out in my mind in the college years. He’s just a cute and gentlemanly figure who is down to help weary travelers. When I was in need of finding flights, I didn’t know where to start, so I just went for the one website that stuck out in my mind like a pointy red hat. For that reason, my only go-to for travel was Expedia (DOT COM!!!) The wierd thing is, I always associated the way that "expedia dot com" was sung with the gnome, but the gnome is for Travelocity! I can NEVER remember the name Travelocity, but I guess the song won me over and my brain commandeered the gnome. Weird.
AT&T
Okay this definitely dates me, so let’s see the percentages go down. Who remembers pay phones? Now, who remembers collect calls? Now, who has ever made a collect call? Anyone there? Well, in highschool I often found myself in situations where I was in desperate need to call someone without any change on me. The only option was to make a collect call, which charges the person you are calling since you can’t pay. I never expect to be in these situations but when I was, it was really easy to remember Carrot Top (yes that’s right) dialing right down the middle: C-A-L-L-A-T-T (2-2-5-5-2-8-8) to begin a collect call. It was more than just Carrot Top in those commercials, but that it the only one I remember.
Little Caesar’s
There is a WIDE range of skill when it comes to the sign holders/spinners on the world. It’s all about getting attention for the store you are working for, so I can only assume that the more flashy you are with the skills the more attention you get. The more attention you get, the more people will consider giving you money. I can’t remember the skills of this one particular guy, but he must have been moving just enough to make me think “I need a Pizza”. I was already thinking about what I wanted for lunch in an unfamiliar part of Chicago at the time, and something about that store coming out at me in motion made me want to give them money. And one large $5 pizza makes for a great meal for me.
League of Legends
I have not played League of Legends in a couple years. I was obsessed with the game for a while, but when friends stopped playing as much, and other games took more of my attention i just kinda stopped. I always still think about it as a good experience and my introduction to MOBA gaming, but I didn’t have anything driving me back. Then the Pop/Star video came out. If you havn;t seen it, go ahead and treat yourself: -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOxkGD8qRB4 -- I was not playing League when this was released, and I am generally not a K-Pop fan, but I became, and still am absolutely obsessed with this song/video that was released in promotion of the game. The game itself does not contain the dancing, singing, or vivid visuals in the video. So why am I re-downloading and playing the game? Because the art of advertising is an art form. It can be as effective as a sneaky and seductive succubus, or as annoying and obvious as a preacher with an airhorn.