I was watching TV the other day, and I saw a commercial that caught my interest and, quite frankly, really irked me. It was the new HP ePrint commercial, the one with the baby in a chair flying down the road across the country to a printer (see link below). It was just one of tons of recent commercials attempting to use a baby or puppy to sell its product, even if that subject has nothing to do with the product itself.
For years, marketers have used babies and puppies because they will seemingly always put the targeted consumer in a good mood (I mean who can honestly be mad at a baby or puppy on their TV). From the E*Trade baby to that little kid in the Frank Myers auto commercial to the Jim Beam puppy commercial (all included below), countless companies have used this ploy to grab the attention of their viewers. Unfortunately, not all of these companies actually use a message within the commercial that has anything to do with the subjects. Now, I can’t say that I am an expert in the advertising business, but I simply can’t see how effective a little kid saying something that the audience can’t understand (Frank Myers auto) will help you to sell cars. Or how a baby travelling across the country displays the capabilities of a printer (HP ePrint). I can say, however, that I greatly enjoy a terrific commercial that integrates a subject beautifully into the product’s marketing like the K9 Advantix spot with the ballad singing pups. Not only is the product shown throughout the spot, but the lyrics of the accompanying song actually describe the effects of the medicine; all the while, unbelievably cute puppies are bouncing around and playing in the forefront.
But, back to the HP commercial. Now, I like little kids and puppies as much as the next person, but coupling a baby imperfectly with a confusing background and one of the most annoying songs I’ve heard in the past 10 years just doesn’t do it for me. At the end of the commercial, though, they pull it together and make a connection between the travelling baby and the printer, but by that time I’ve already changed the channel or spent the past 20 seconds fighting my dog for the remote. It’s not that the baby thing doesn’t work in the end; it just really annoys me that that was the route they chose for the commercial.
On a different note, one of my favorite commercials of the past couple years (other than all the E*Trade commercials with the original baby) is the Jim Beam puppy commercial. I enjoy it because not only are they using adorable puppies in the commercial to indirectly sell their product, but they are making a mockery of the use of puppies as advertising ploys in the process. I agree that the situations presented in the spot are a bit prejudiced toward women, but at the same time, the reactions of the women in the commercial mimic those made by the majority of consumers outside the 16- to 33-year-old male segment.
In the end, I guess I simply don’t enjoy a commercial that merely takes a subject (like a baby or puppy) and uses that as its end-all-be-all solution to the campaign. The same goes for using sex or celebrities as well. Unless there’s something else to the commercial, I’m not buying your product; and since that is the ultimate goal of advertising, I can’t see why subjecting a sweet little baby or a cute little puppy to the rigors of a commercial shoot is worth it.
-Joel Fletcher
Joel Fletcher is a senior BEM major (Marketing concentration) and Spanish minor and a member of the Wake Forest Varsity Cheer team and Plead the Fifth a cappella group
Disclaimer:
The comments and views put forth is this post are those of the individual who wrote them and do NOT reflect the views of the Cheer team, Plead the Fifth, Wake Forest University or anyone else who is associated with those groups.
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