Tag Archives: advertising

The Slag Of All Updates

I truly believe the YouTube model may become the model for all television. A couple of weeks ago, I spent many happy hours watching old clips of British Breakfast telly. The Breakfast Time title sequence was a particular fave when it got to about two o’clock in the morning (Frank and Selina were always my favourites). That shows that it’s as easy to get a YouTube habit – and I may need to seek help any moment now – as it was to think faux leather sofas were the most sophisticated thing you could have in your living room in 1982.

I don’t remember what I started searching YouTube for when I first got there, but by the time all the drunks had got safely home to bed, and the street outside was silent, I had a full playlist of old television idents and clips. Really, a computer-generated Central Television sun (or was it moon?) from 1989 or a Granada TV Continuity announcement about a School Fire isn’t really scaling the heights of art and culture, is it (I wonder if the moon/sun won any awards at the time)? So what on earth was I doing spending the night searching out these TV gems? Maybe it says a great deal about what was on broadcast television that night but I wouldn’t want to say as I was so addicted to the swirling letters L, W and T (if you live in London you’ve probably gone all misty-eyed at the very mention of those letters) that I forgot to look at the real super high definition million inch orbiting sound box that tries to hide in the corner of the room.

The YouTube model works so well that all content will be served like this in the future. I mean, why would I watch what some bloke in ripped jeans and a T-shirt with a witty slogan scrawled on the front wants me to watch in the early hours when I can watch Mary Beth being taken hostage in a clip from Cagney & Lacey? Why would I watch ITV Play when I can watch Supermarket Sweep with Dale? Seriously, this is a much better way to be a couch potato.

My inner couch potato would have been very happy today as YouTube grabbed me again. I was reading some old items from Listen To Musak (the world’s greatest blog) when I came across an entry from August 2002 on the irrationality of complaints about a television commercial for a snack food pot. You know that’s just a poncy way of saying that I mentioned that an army of people had found time to complain about Pot Noodle’s Slag of All Snacks ads. Seriously, the complainers have almost as much time on their hands as I must have to write this nonsense.

Now listen up, kids: back in 2002, there really wasn’t a YouTube (really, all the Internet was in black & white back then). And if there was a YouTube (which there wasn’t), we were all using a telephone dial-up line to access the Internet, so there’s no way we’d have been watching. Can you imagine? So back in 2002, I wouldn’t have been able to link to the ad. Which I can now. Here’s the link: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=L_6GGDhHzKI. See, the ad is really funny and cleverly plays on the British attitudes to sex (I say that, but so does the New Statesman, so I must be right, mustn’t I?) and it shouldn’t have been banned.

So now, thanks to YouTube, you can write to your MP about the fact that the Slag Of All Snacks is on the net now and try to get it removed. Really, YouTube’s given you a whole new way to complain. Told you it was the future for television.


And so, to those who read on, here is a spinning computer-generated moon and some whizzing letters for you to enjoy. Who says I don’t entertain?

On this day…

2006: Hello From Here
2005: Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
2002: The Art of the Blog

Anything You Can Do

I haven’t written much here for a while. I don’t really know why, but I haven’t gone away – perhaps I am just spending all my time moving my Windows Media library across to iTunes. Yes, after all these entries about music players, I gave up and switched to an iPod Nano. And, after all those trials and tribulations with other music players, I am very happy. I even bought the Nike+ kit so that I can track how far I have run at the gym. Seriously, I’ve tried many of the music players, and they just don’t have the ease of use and integration that iTunes has. It’s the seamless interaction that makes it all work so well.

Still, that’s not why I picked up the keyboard today. Earlier, I watched the European Formula One Grand Prix, and boy, what a race that was. But I don’t really want to talk about the race itself (I am sure you can read all about it here), but I did want to talk about one of the best pieces of advertising that I have seen in a long while.

Even if you are not a petrolhead follower of Formula One – and especially if you are British – you can’t have failed to have read some piece about the Championship scrap between Lewis Hamilton and his McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso.

The latest advertisement from Mercedes (which is of course the team they both drive for) plays on this rivalry beautifully. Anything you can do, I can do better:

I just think the whole thing is really well pitched, and they seem to have had some fun making it.

On this day…

2002: Fix My Car
2002: Running Shoes
2002: Oh Canada

Three Hundred Million

According to New Media Zero, UK online ad spend in 2003 could be as high as £350m which is very promising news indeed for those of us involved in the industry. The article doesn’t break down the money and I would be interested to know where it is being spent – I just hope it’s not on more pop-ups!

On this day…

2003: I Favour Legalisation Of Homosexual Marriage

Online Advertising is a Nuisance

According to MSNBC earlier this week, 43% of users think that online advertising is a nuisance, and, in another survey, 53% respondents said online clutter was a problem [both via Marketing Fix].

Of course, consumers do not like advertising. Nobody likes being advertised at, just as everybody believes that they are not swayed by advertising (but they know people who are!). Is this a big deal? Well, of course, no advertiser wants to believe their advertisement gets in the way, and no advertiser wants to annoy users to the extent that they are turned off the product by the commercials. Yet, as noted in many places, TV advertising is the most intrusive advertising – the programme physically stops so they can show you an advertisement. So, why does online advertising come in for such a hard time?

Badly designed advertising can be a nuisance, but I think advertising isn’t generally too much of a problem. What I am interested in is the concept of clutter. So many sites these days surround you with advertisements. Banners at the top, buttons down the left, a skyscraper on the right and some kind of rich-media thing walking across the middle. There’s a very large portal that does this kind of thing all the time. They’re making money, but it’s very frustrating.

I’m sure cleverly designed advertising in the right place works – in all media. The online challenge is to make it work and make it profitable, at least profitable enough to pay for the sites we like.

On this day…

2005: Cabinet War Rooms

Pop Up (Up and Away)

There has been great discussion recently about pop-ups. Are they doomed? Well, it’s a subject close to my heart as, being in the online advertising/research business for many years, they have become an important part of my life.

I have to ask, how they can properly be controlled? They are a useful marketing tool and can be useful to site publishers outside the advertising arena but some companies have exploited them far too much. MarketingFix notes that Netscape has announced it’s going to start offering the facility to block pop-ups. Interestingly, the pop-up filter has to be enabled by the user and then “Once enabled, the filter is preset to allow pop-ups on some sites, including several of AOL’s own properties”

I only wish it was possible to stop the multiple spawning.

On this day…

2004: Paycheck

The **** Of All Snacks

I do like the sensitive side of this country! Today’s Media Guardian website reports that “Pot Noodle’s controversial adverts using the line The slag of all snacks have been banned from appearing on TV after more than 300 viewers complained”.

300 people actually bothered to complain about a television advertisement. I would really love to know why they felt this was inappropriate. I thought they were some of the funniest commercials that I have seen in a long time, and the word was used in a humorous, self-deprecating way. How can calling a plastic pot of fast food be that offensive? Such a shame they were pulled. However, I don’t really see the point, as most people have seen them anyway.

Anyway, here is a gratuitous link to the most offensive words in the English language! Wonder if any of the complainers have a website where they outline their complaints. I’d love to know. [Ref: Media Guardian]

On this day…

2005: Run London – Here I Come
2004: Madonna
2003: Helsinki Re-Visited