{"id":5321,"date":"2010-04-26T00:05:25","date_gmt":"2010-04-26T07:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/?p=5321"},"modified":"2010-04-26T00:10:21","modified_gmt":"2010-04-26T07:10:21","slug":"kingsford-radio-commercial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/04\/kingsford-radio-commercial\/","title":{"rendered":"MONDAY RADIO COMMERCIAL SMACKDOWN: Kingsford Charcoal – Finalist, Worst Radio Commercial of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

\u201cGood God..."<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

You know how RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK<\/em> starts out with a tremendously exciting action sequence and then throughout the movie keeps piling on the thrills?<\/p>\n

That’s what this commercial is like. Except it begins horribly and then, astonishingly, gets worse and worse.<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

1. Advertising intersects common human experience. <\/strong><\/p>\n

When is the last time you encountered a talking hamburger and\/or a talking sausage? How effectively does that little scenario connect with your life?<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>A talking hamburger? How original.<\/p>\n

If that commercial was created by an ad agency (and not \u2014 as I dearly hope \u2014 by a precocious 7-year old child who has been allowed to watch Mad Men)<\/em>, now I will reveal a closely guarded trade secret:<\/p>\n

It’s a national “branding” adaptation of an inane, cliched, paint-by-numbers blueprint long used by People Who Never Should Be Allowed Near A Radio Commercial.<\/p>\n

Here, try it yourself. Just plug in whatever ad category you wish and see what happens:<\/p>\n

VO 1:\u00a0 Hey, buddy!<\/p>\n

VO 2:\u00a0 Wha…? Who said that?<\/p>\n

VO 1:\u00a0 It’s me. Your (\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ).<\/p>\n

VO 2:\u00a0 My (\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 )?<\/p>\n

VO 1:\u00a0 Yeah. You know, you’ve been neglecting me, and even (\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 )s need a little attention every now and then. That’s why you should take me to (Sponsor), where they’ll (\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ) me, (\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ) me, and even (\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ) me all for one low price. I mean, you wouldn’t want me to (\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ), would you?<\/p>\n

VO 2:\u00a0 Well, no.<\/p>\n

VO 1:\u00a0 Of course not! That would be pretty awful. That’s why you should call (Sponsor) right away at 343-8874. That’s 343-8874.<\/p>\n

VO 2:\u00a0 What was that number again?<\/p>\n

VO 1:\u00a0 343-8874.<\/p>\n

VO 2:\u00a0 You know, for a (\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ), you’re pretty smart.<\/p>\n

VO 1:\u00a0 Aw, well \u2014 Hey, get a load of THAT sweet little (\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 )!<\/p>\n

ANNOUNCER:\u00a0 For all of your (\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ) needs, that’s (Sponsor) at 343-8874. 343-8874.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

3.\u00a0 Radio is a visual medium, <\/strong>and successful radio advertising paints pictures of the results promised by the product or service.<\/p>\n

Maybe you pictured a talking hamburger.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you envisioned a talking sausage.<\/p>\n

But you didn<\/strong>‘t picture food grilling on your barbecue, smoke gently wafting toward your hungry guests who are delighted by the aromas.<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>A rain dance???<\/p>\n

That comedic climax is so lame, so mind bogglingly stupid that my most scornful invective couldn’t begin to do it justice.<\/p>\n

I mean, a rain dance??<\/p>\n

But Here Is What Puts This Commercial In The Hall of Shame.<\/h3>\n

I heard that spot in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Special Note To The Guy From New England Who Wrote This Commercial:<\/strong> In this part of the country \u2014 in fact, in most parts of the United States \u2014 we don’t have “cookouts.”<\/p>\n

We have barbecues.<\/p>\n

Too bad the copy ran long and you had to cut the line about washing down the burgers & sausage with a delicious cold frappe, huh?<\/p>\n

Among the many things you never learned about radio advertising: Speak the language your target audience speaks. <\/em>If Californians have “barbecues,” why would you talk to them about their “cookouts”?<\/p>\n

Okay, fine. The inexperienced, entry level copywriter who wasted Kingsford’s advertising dollars didn’t know that “cookout” is a regional colloquialism unheard of west of the Mississippi River. After all, you don’t know what you don’t know.<\/p>\n

But not a single person down the line knew and cared enough to say, “Uh, guys? No one here says ‘cookouts'”??<\/em><\/p>\n

C’mon, everybody. Let’s all get together and do a rain dance. Maybe the resulting storm will drown out of this 60-second embarrassment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You know how RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK starts out with a tremendously exciting action sequence and then throughout the movie keeps piling on the thrills? That’s what this commercial is like. Except it begins horribly and then, astonishingly, gets worse and worse. 1. Advertising intersects common human experience. When is the last time you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5321","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"yoast_head":"\nMONDAY RADIO COMMERCIAL SMACKDOWN: Kingsford Charcoal - Finalist, Worst Radio Commercial of the Year - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/04\/kingsford-radio-commercial\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MONDAY RADIO COMMERCIAL SMACKDOWN: Kingsford Charcoal - Finalist, Worst Radio Commercial of the Year - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You know how RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK starts out with a tremendously exciting action sequence and then throughout the movie keeps piling on the thrills? 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