Search Terms
Posted: Tue 19 November, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Advertising, Cynicism, Media, People, Thoughts Leave a comment »Yesterday it was announced that Google and Microsoft (by which they mean Bing) were editing/updating 100,000 search terms linked to images of child abuse. That’s all well and good, except that
- I’m sure there’s a lot more than 100,000 terms that could be used/created/combined in order to find those results
- I’m also pretty damn certain that the main perpetrators, creators and viewers of such images don’t hunt for them using run-of-the-mill search engines like Google and Bing.
- And yes, OK, probably there are people stupid enough to search using mainstream search, but those are the ones that are easy (well, easier) to track down and locate anyway.
So really (as far as I can see) this is more of a sop to the media and government than it is likely to be of any real use or relevance.
Legalised
Posted: Tue 22 October, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Advertising, Corbett, Cynicism, D4D™, Geeky, Legal, Marketing, Stupidity, Time Leave a comment »It’s now two years since my little spat with Ian Corbett (of Toyota Ireland) and his legal advisors was completed. I said at the time that the way they’d requested things to work out wouldn’t actually get rid of the search engine results that annoyed him so much. But he’s a marketing manager, so one assumes he knows these things, and that I would be wrong.
On a random whim, I searched the other day on Google for said person – and lo, I was right. Even when searching for just name + company (with no mention of D4D™ at all) up comes D4D™ with a nice healthy 4th place in the search results. And now there’s also Google Images, I can also see what the glaikit bawbag looks like, too.
All told, I can’t deny, I do find this very amusing. And there’s nothing at all I can do about it, it’s all in the hands of That There Google.
Approaching Year-End (Part 2)
Posted: Mon 23 September, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Advertising, Cynicism, Festering Season, People, Shopping 1 Comment »At the end of August, I wrote about the signs that we were coming to the end of the year, and the Festering Season. Obviously X-Factor and Strictly being back on TV are the two primary harbingers mentioned in that one.
Now though, I’m seeing more signs – and they seem to be earlier than ever.
- On TV, we’re starting to see the adverts for perfumes/fragrances (for both men and women) and also the music compilation CDs that only ever seem to be on the shelves for the Festering Season. It’s always the “Oh god, I don’t know – get something” gift of last resort.
- In the supermarkets, hard though it is to believe, there’s already Christmas confectionary and mince pies on the shelves.
- And then there was this, spotted yesterday…
Yep, Christmas Cards are already on the shelves. I despair.
I’m surprised at how early all this tat is hitting the shops- I assume it’s retail’s way of handling people having less money than usual, so making the items available ever earlier. Personally I think that’s bollocks, and they’re just hoping for as many sales as possible – but as you can see from the picture above, people are actually buying the damn cards already…
The Beginning of the End (Of the Year)
Posted: Fri 30 August, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Advertising, Cynicism, Festering Season, Television 1 Comment »It’s only August, but we’re already building up towards the end of the year.
This weekend, it’s the return of evil Saturday-night ITV drivel ‘contest’ The X-Factor. Knowing that the target for this is (as always) the Christmas Number One single, you know it’s only [x] weeks ’til the Festering Season is upon us once more.
Next weekend, BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing is back on. In the same way, that’s now part of the run-up to the Festering Season.
I won’t be watching either of them, but it’s still a signpost that that fat old bearded bastard is on the way, red suit, reindeer and all.
Bah Fucking Humbug.
Children and Racism
Posted: Thu 25 July, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Advertising, Charm School, People Leave a comment »This video is really interesting…
Basically, Cheerios released an advert in America that featured a multi-racial relationship, and – unsurprisingly – a lot of people complained about it. The video below shows the ads, and then the reactions of some young children to it, and to the ‘controversy’.
If nothing else, it gives us some hope for the future, where America will possibly become less racist.
Advertising Morphosis – Friendly Money
Posted: Thu 27 June, 2013 Filed under: Advertising, Change, Creativity Leave a comment »Yesterday I wrote a bit about the changes in advertising for insurance comparison websites. The other main group that seem to be changing adverts at the moment are the Payday Lending industry.
Having worked in that industry, I’m probably a wee bit more attuned to those adverts than others. Part and parcel of being a geeky swine, I suppose.
Anyway, the two main companies whose advertising I’ve noticed changing are Amigo Loans and QuickQuid / Pounds to Pocket. Both have ended up with new agencies, I’m sure – the new advertising is worlds apart from the previous stuff. I’m not going to add links to their videos, I’m just interested in the way their portrayal has changed.
Amigo have gone from the Mexico-based advertising linked to their name to a newer one that appears to be more like Morph In Debt.
The other main one is QuickQuid / Pounds to Pocket – they’re the same company, so it’s really no surprise that they’ve gone down the same route with advertising, and the same agency. Interestingly they’ve gone away from the “realistic scenario” type of advert and are now using a theme of aliens and scientists. Why, I don’t know – I’m not an advertising wonk, so the whole concept is a bit beyond me.
All the same, it’s interesting to see how these things are changing, as these once ‘on the edge’ industries appear to be becoming more mainstream, more accepted, and (I assume) making use of larger agencies, with bigger budgets.
Advertising Morphosis – Comparing Confusion
Posted: Wed 26 June, 2013 Filed under: Advertising, Change, Creativity, Thoughts Leave a comment »Over the last few months, it’s been interesting to see the adverts on TV that have changed radically – and as it happens, there are two main industries who appear to have changed their advertising massively in that time. The first is insurance comparison websites, the second is payday lenders.
In both areas, I suspect the reasons for change are the same – of all the adverts on TV, those two sectors had the adverts that were the most annoying. Insurance Comparison sites advertising was pretty much universally loathed – I know that their ‘recognise the brand’ methods worked, but backfired in that I remembered the brands so I could be sure to never ever give them any money.
GoCompare was the biggest culprit on this, with their poxy opera-‘singer’ character.
He’s still around, but they’re fading the character out. (And not a moment too soon, in my opinion)
They’re interesting, because in a lot of ways they now seem to be acknowledging that the character is/was ridiculously fucking annoying, and they’re now working on keeping the character while hopefully reducing the annoyance factor significantly.
The next biggest one was Confused.com, who’ve got rid of their super-annoying animated and musical adverts…
And replaced it with a weird Wall-E-esque robot instead…
It’s all definitely an improvement, and on the rareish occasions I watch adverts (more often caused by forgetting I’m watching something recorded, and still watching the ads) I no longer feel the need to poke my eyes out and block my ears.