'Are annoying ads really bad – would you go compare with GoCompare?' blog discussion

CCStar · 16 February 2010 at 1:53AM

pmarkc wrote: »

All the commercial ads are bad enough. The ones I really object to are "Public Service Announcements" "Did you leave the lap top on view in the car?" etc etc
Not only are the ads totally annoying but I'm paying for them!!!

I hate the TV licence ads on BBC as well.

moggylover · 16 February 2010 at 2:30AM

I just hate advertising! The whole ideology seems so fake and dishonest to me and it just involves manipulating people psychologically for ones own ends!

First lot on my "to shoot" list: the ad men!:D

Overpaid bunch of con men:D

moggylover · 16 February 2010 at 2:35AM

KTM_Gordo wrote: »

The secret comes in ignoring the advert and looking at the company and its products to see whether they're actually any good or not.

I know Martin is very keen on certain comparison sites, but I've nearly been caught out when looking for insurance - what seemed like a bargin was too good to be true.

The company at the top of the low price list had ignored the requirements I'd put in to the comparison site and was offering a very basic policy that would have been no use at all in the event of a claim.

Yes, the meerkat is clever, the opera singer is as unsubtle as is humanly possible and the people singing the praises of another site is of dubious sincerity - but we're all intelligent and can see through the gloss to what is actually on offer. Simples (oops! )

I had that! And since they have the most annoying advert of all time ("Swiftcover" with the dreadful Iggy Pop prancing around showing off the most disgusting wrinkly, sweaty old body ever) I was even more cheesed off!

anthony_hunt · 16 February 2010 at 3:37PM

The rule of thumb is very simple. TV advertising costs a disproportionate amount, so any company advertising its goods or services on the TV is overcharging its customers. So don't buy from them! See? Easy!

The two worst (IMO) kind of adverts:-

USA style / talk down to you (the idiot) and have nodding actor playing your "part". "Are you dumb?" {nods} "Do you want rubbish product?" {nods} etc.
Badly dubbed European cleaning product / US / French shampoo adverts. If they gave a stuff for the UK, they'd have made a UK advert. Jennifer Aniston washing her hair and prancing around, with Dot Cotton's voice and a three second delay on the lip-sync. Noooo! Of course we didn't notice! We're stupid aren't we? {see pet hate 1}

RandomRainy · 17 February 2010 at 3:54PM

I wanted to compare something the other day. Of course, the first one that came to my head was GoCompare, so they have achieved their goal of getting the attention of many people. However, I find that ad so annoying that I decided to go with MoneySupermarket. Maybe there is such a thing as bad advertising!

mippy · 17 February 2010 at 5:32PM

phizzimum wrote: »

personally I find the ads that try to be funny less annoying than the ones that try to be serious - I voted for the confused.com "vox pop" people. are they real people or actors? even if they're real people then we presume they're being paid to say how great the company is.

an opera singer or an animated meercat isn't pretending to be anything other than a marketing gimmick. it doesn't actually try to tell us anything about the service provided just helps us remember the name.

Real people aren't allowed to be paid for giving vox pops in TV ads.

WhiteHorse · 17 February 2010 at 5:55PM

I quite like the GoCompare ad, although I would like to see rather less of it. I really dislike the waterslide advert, as that goes on forever. I also find the mobile phone recycle ad (the one with the orange creature), intensely irritating because it's so frequent.

I also dislike huge rafts off adverts, regardless of how good or bad they are. I have been known to give up waiting for a program to resume and to switch off instead.

AuntieM · 17 February 2010 at 6:39PM

I detest the go compare advert so much I refused to use them when I renewed my car insurance. I can't believe that's the best an ad company could come up with, pathetic.

doomworm · 17 February 2010 at 6:49PM

Not only is the Gocompare ad annoying but these so-called comparison sites often choose very expensive options as the supposed cheapest.I was quoted £450 for car insurance by Gocompare yet found a company in an internet search....Quinn Insurance who offered the same insurance for £360!...beware of this please!

Chaos · 17 February 2010 at 7:08PM

Years ago there was an advert that went "Skol Skol Skol Skol, Skol Skol Skol Skol, Skol Skol Skol Skol, Skol Skol Skol Skol"

That was annoying, can't remember what it was for though!

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'Are annoying ads really bad – would you go compare with GoCompare?' blog discussion

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