A great example of this is South of the Border. If any of you adventurous kids have taken the long drive from here to Florida, you will eventually have to pass...South of the Border. It is a terrible Mexican themed rest stop built in the 70's (and still looks exactly the same as the day it was built) and it should be torn down. On the drive, you will first see a sign with some lame catch phrase on it. Then will you see another 10 miles after, it will soon turn into every 5, 3, 1, 1/2 and 1/4 mile until you reach the final destination. The signs are just dreadful, and are rather annoying seeing them every 1/2 mile but-they work. People stop off at this tacky location if only to see what all the hype is about seen on the ads. (You are sure to be disappointed) None the less, they work! I can still even remember some of the signs, because they are that bad.
~~ take a look at one of the ads.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/South_of_the_Border_sign_23_-_Pedros_Weather_Report_Chilli_Today_Hot_Tamale.JPG
The point of all this is, bad advertising works, because we remember just how awful it is. We may make fun of it, but in the end the advertisers win. We are talking about it, spreading the word, and thats the point of their whole scheme. Can you think of any other ads that drive you crazy, but stick?
I thought it was funny to read this blog. I have driven to Hilton Head South Carolina 13 times and Florida 5 times. When I was a kid we used to love reading all the stupid South of The Border signs. They start like over 100 miles away from there and they have such foolish sayings all them. As you said they have signs every few miles. I think we stopped there once when I was young now we just pass there and laugh. I think eventually the whole park will be gone because of how old it is, and useless. It was fun when we were kids though just because we knew that once we got there we only had 3 more hours to our destination.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you, some commercials are terrible and stick with you, including those awweful bobs commercials and his transparency. Not to mention ugly furniture. First commercials that came to mind was te meow mix commercials with the cat the plays the piano and the woman doesn't know where it's comic from, not to mention they probably bought ad space in Austin powers, meow mix meow mix please deliver... But I must also say a bad commercial will make me hate the company which is not the point. But I'd probably stop at that Mexican place.
ReplyDeleteI used the HATE those South of the Border ads, and my parents would never stop.
ReplyDeleteYou're definitely right about things being tacky and stupid, but people tend to remember those things. Usually places like Bob's stick with that one jingle because they know that is a large part of their namesake. AS dumb as they are, they work very, very well.
I agree that they work. My family and I drove down to Florida when I was around 11 and I remember seeing those signs EVERYWHERE! We didn't stop there though, because when we drove by it was rather late I see tons of lame commercials. Just sitting here with the television on for background noise I saw a ProActiv commercial. The commercial always starts with a celebrity showing off their acne filled faces and how ProActiv magically changed them. Everything about it screams infomercial! But, they work. Bad, or annoying, advertising always catches a viewers attention. And for those who plan on watching the Super Bowl today, I'm sure there will be a whole new batch of bad advertisements for us to enjoy.
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