Super Bowl Ads a Week Later

Two of the Super Bowl ads have gotten into trouble. The Snickers ad with two men sharing a Snickers then touching lips, was loudly condemned by gay groups, and has been pulled from television networks. The other ad is the one by GM that shows a yellow robot contemplating suicide. Several suicide prevention groups have expressed concern and have asked that ad not to be shown anymore. They think the ad could provoke a suicidal person to action. A interesting side note, 3 of the top 6 Super Bowl ads which boosted viewers opinion of brands,were conceived by amateurs. It seems that the average consumer seems to know a few things about making ads that resonate with fellow consumers. The three ads were, Doritos checkout girl gets excited (#3), NFL fans mourn end of seaon (#4), and Doritos where the guy and girl show Dorito qualities (#6). I think this works on a couple of levels. First, some companies realize the bent of the culture to participate. The ads allowed someone outside the corporation to participate in creation of ads for their product. The other factor is people watch ads with the view of why they shouldn't be persuaded to buy a product because it comes from a corporate marketing department. When an ad comes from consumers, they are more likely to be viewed as credible. Madison Avenue admakers must be trembling in their boots just a little bit with this development. These are the days my friend.
Jim "Train"