Advertising

In the advert, the dark-haired woman struts across the hotel lobby with a jaguar who walked beside her, causing another guest's dachshund to bark.

The clerk behind reception points out the popular restaurant.

"Thank you, I don't do popular choices," she say and then she and the jaguar stalk off. Fade to the Jaguar car.

My reaction is the woman is a stuck up, rude bitch despite the thank you. And if she doesn't do popular than if I bought a Jaguar it would not be popular not that I buy cars by popularity. I would think, maybe it isn't popular because it is inferior, or doesn't hold up.

Only after getting ready to write this blog, did I discover the woman was Eva Green, a French model. The advert is on youtube. She seems much nicer on the tape than in the advert, which wouldn't be hard.

In another Jaguar advert, a man walks through a park, also with an unpleasant expression on his face. He has a jaguar with him which scares away German Shepherds.

What I wonder about is what advantage the agency and company thought that there is such a negative impression given by the ads?

The messages to me are rudeness and bullying. So if I buy a Jaguar, I too can be a rude bully. I'll pass.

A few years back, in a watch company, I can't remember the name, celebrities wore the watch, which was beautiful. The problem was that the faces on the celebrities seemed to be unhappy or angry. Was the message, wear the watch and be miserable?

I wrote the PR person about the image, and I did get a response that said something about important people and watches. As a PR person, I recognized corporate BS, but I credited him with at least trying.


I wonder if the companies focus grouped the adverts. I have always been a big fan of focus groups. If they did, what were the criteria for the group: rude, snobby, bullies? Maybe they do know their market, but not only would I not want to buy their products, I am sure I don't want to know their clients either.