February 6, 2007
$2.6 million can buy a lot of things
I’d really hoped yesterday would be nothing but non-stop conversations reliving the Bears triumphant Super Bowl performance. Of course the team didn’t quite hold up their end of the bargain, and no one wanted to relive the collapse any more so every conversation instead turned to, “what’d you think of the big Super Bowl ads?”
Normally, I’m not a big fan of TV advertising. I’m easily annoyed and quickly tire of seeing the same spots over and over again. But the Super Bowl is the big coming out ball for the big new ads, and people who want you to buy their stuff paid $2.6 million for 30 seconds of pitch time. I’d paid enough attention to the ads to engage in distracting talks about anything other than Rex.
As usual I wasn’t all that impressed with what I saw. There were crabs stealing beer coolers, dogs being cute, pseudo-psychedelic cartoons, talking animals and so much more. I was amused by a Spectreman reference in one ad and the “things you can do with one finger” spot came through with the requisite finale, but most the spots left me wanting.
They also left me puzzled at the violence playing a key role in almost all the humor. There was an ad with a suicidal robot, people slapping each other, someone taking rock, paper, scissors way too literally, crashing cars, people floating off into the vacuum of space and a now pulled Snickers spot featuring two guys who rip out their chest hair to fight off being gay. I guess violence sells as well as sex these days.
But all that violence brought me to another ad campaign that’s going to end up costing something in that same $2.6 million range. Turner Broadcasting just agreed to pay $2 million to Boston to cover the expenses related to their recently discovered guerilla marketing campaign for the Cartoon Network’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Ted’s company got in trouble with Beantown after the flashing LED signs they’d surreptitiously hung around the city were mistaken for bombs.
While the signs featuring the two-dimensional Mooninites flipping the bird had been up in Boston and other major cities for weeks, Boston was the only burg to flip out and think they were flashy explosive devices. The signs came down, Turner apologized and no one was actually injured in this incident. Still there’s been plenty of publicity for the Aqua Teen crew and the campaign probably seems worth it despite the extra cost.
Plus, it uncovered just how jittery Boston can be. Not to belittle the very real threat of terrorism in America’s major metropolitan areas, but I think people should be a little concerned about just how easily a city like Boston was shut down with no actual threat or danger present. Shouldn’t the authorities and the media investigated the suspicious blinking sign before jumping to conclusions and shutting things down?
It just seems to me that besides lots of attention for the upcoming Aqua Teen movie, the Turner campaign also exposed just how quick some people jump to conclusions and how ready some media outlets are to frighten the public with speculation. If so, people could shut down the town by calling in every piece of random debris on the streets.