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Radio Advertising Inanity Spreads to TV

For years, incompetent ad agencies have filled the airwaves with radio commercials that spend all their time explaining concepts that the audience already understands, rather than delivering a clear, powerful sales message.

Now this advertising malpractice has spread to television.

The first 17 seconds of this ad are devoted to explaining to viewers why “asking for help” can be a good thing.

As an aside: I listened to this spot half a dozen times and still had no clue what was being said at :19.

Finally I ran it through Otter and determined the mystery word is “freelanced.”

Apparently “making sure the audience understands what the actors are saying” is nowhere as important as making sure the audience grasps the maddeningly elusive notion of “asking for help.”

The sales message of this advertisement is, “Turbotax can help with your taxes.”

How can Turbotax help with your taxes?

No explanation.

Why would you choose to ask for help from TurboTax rather than from H&R Block, TaxSlayerPro, TaxAct, TaxSlayer, etc.?

Sorry, they don’t have time to tell us.

They’re too busy explaining the almost-impossible-to-grasp concept of “asking for help.”TurboTax TV commercial "Help"

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  • George Utley January 27, 2020, 9:41 am

    Just about the same as trying to make a spot ‘funny’ at the cost of the message…