Pet peeve
I don't understand how some stupid advertising agencies get paid to come up with some ridiculous and counter-producing campaigns. I mean, in my job, if I came up with something that obviously damaged my organization, I'd be fired.
So, a time-honored and always accurate main principle of advertising, is that people want to feel good about themselves when they are consuming the product being advertised. That's why ads for booze feature the consumers surrounded by babes and enjoying themselves.
So, we get this new ad series about Progressive Auto Insurance... featuring an absolute loser. This guy is lying on his couch all day, getting contemptuous looks from his girlfriend, doing nothing other than obsessing about his huge Progressive sign. All that he can get as a job, is flashing this sign around... And we, the viewers, are supposed to think "Oh great, let me identify myself with this loser; I'll definitely be calling Progressive for my next auto insurance deal!" Uh, no. Nope. I'll pass.
Then, Rocket Mortgages has this guy who has a wig and fake muscles and he gets home and takes out the fake stuff, and he is a skinny, weak, bald, bad-looking guy... but he got his mortgage from Rocket. Uh, am I supposed to say "OK, I'm eager to identify with this pathetic loser and get my mortgage from Rocket too!"???
I mean, what are these ad executives thinking??? What are they smoking??? And even worse, why are the executives from the companies being advertised, paying these idiots??? When an ad campaign is annoying and obnoxious, I'm more likely to take my business to their competitors.
Do you all have any other examples of extremely stupid ad campaigns?