My advertising radar was spinning this morning. I love to see what other businesses are doing; how they present themselves, what their messages are, and how people respond. Almost back to back this morning on TV were ads for two different furniture stores. Kind of tuned into these, because they're distantly related to what we're doing, and somewhere in the recesses of my brain is a trend-watching space (for instance, did you know that fuzzy mauve recliners are still popular enough to be shown in ads?).
First one was a local production featuring a fortune cookie promotion where you pick a cookie and get a surprise discount on your furniture purchase. Featuring a very fake, asianesque accent... the sort of bad joke Charlie Chan voice your brother might pull on you. It's bound to offend. I had to run it back and see it again to believe it. Whoa. I can only imagine the "creative" strategizing, and the knee-slappin' "this is gonna be great" discussions.
Second ad was from Ethan Allen, which if you remember back into the 1970s and 80s, was a staid, blue plaid, traditional kind of furniture store. They have really worked hard, I think, in the last decade to be more leading edge. Their ad was fabulous. Very tight, well-choreographed quick clips of graphics and room vignettes, completely married to the music and beat. The production values were really good, yet it probably didn't cost a fortune to produce, since it was all still photos and graphics. Brilliant.
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Many people have talked with me about the locally produced furniture ad with the incredibly bad, and extremely offensive asian accent (probably because they run on our stations - but were NOT produced by our stations).
I am surprised there was not one smart head in that meeting, when ideas were being thrown around, that said "that's a baaad idea." It's not a funny ad, it's insensitive and takes us back to the days when we referred to other races by stereotypical accents and sayings. I would hope people call the furniture store and express their disappointment at them approving the ad.
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