Dramatic Sales Writing

And speaking of the Ad Council -- I thought
they were supposed to be a group of high-
powered ad people. Is that wrong?

One radio station I listen to a lot on a sustained
basis (when there's a program on I like), is
97.1 FM Talk. All talk shows. I don't know
whether it's because they're still relatively new
and their format is competing against KMOX
which is a long established and very popular
talk station here in St Louis on AM, but 97.1
runs a lot of public service ads. I assume they
do so only because they don't always fill
their paid advertising time.

And some of it is so wretched, it's pathetic.

Not just the teen volunteer who has her arm
torn off by a bear . . .

But the ad that's totally incoherent. It starts
out with a young man talking about he was
such a show-off as a kid that all his
teachers gave up on him, except one . . .
then it seques -- with NO logical connection
whatsoever -- into talking about so many
years of alcoholism and so many years of
recovery.

What is the connection? I don't know. It
starts out as an ad applauding a good
teacher and then ends up as an ad about
alcohol treatment and there is no connection
made. Who was the alcoholic -- the student
or the teacher? I don't know, and I've heard
it a 1000 times.

The ad for WIC (Women, Infants & Children --
it gives food and formula away to mothers
with children under 5, and does some routine
exams of the kids) out and out lies. It says
it's free -- but taxpayers have to pay for it.
It's free only to the women and kids who get
it.

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An extreme example of a radio ad designed to
create an emotional reaction in you through
gratuitous, unnecessary and -- in my opinion --
counterproductive negativity, is an ad put out
by The Ad Council to promote volunteerism
among teens.

Oh, it's thoroughly convincing. If you were a
teenager, wouldn't you really want to become
a volunteer after hearing this?

A young girl (a teenage volunteer) is saying
about a bear cub, "Oh, he's so cute."

She's a volunteer for some help the animals
groups.

Next thing you know, she's screaming (and the
actress does a REALLY good job of doing this.
The best scream on the radio I've heard since
I listened to the tape of Nick Berg beheaded by
Islamo-fascists in Iraq a year or so ago.)

HE'S GOT MY ARM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boy, that really makes me want to go
volunteer my precious time, even though
I'm not a teenager anymore.

Does this type of tactic actually get
positive results? Or is The Ad Council
now totally incompetent?

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This entry is about radio ads. I spend a
lot of time in my car listening to the
radio. I wish I didn't, but
that's another story.

Anyway, despite sometimes constant flipping
up and down through the dial to find
music I want, I still wind up hearing a
lot of commercials.

And I have to ask -- does anybody know
the answer? Is there some research or
testing to verify that the gratuitous
use of irrelevant pain or conflict ups response?

It seems to me that a lot of radio ads
build in some kind of negativity or conflict
that actually detracts and distracts from
the central message.

For instance, a slight example is Taco Bell's
recent ads featuring burritos and tacos
crashing a bachelorette party. They brag
about their ability to spice up the night,
adding the entertainment. So far, so good,
if silly.

At the end, though, a taco is wearing a
policeman's hat and wants to ask the
hostess a few questions.

What's the point? Does Taco Bell really
think it's a good idea to identify their
food with police who disguise themselves
as tacos? With police who have nothing
better to do than crash bachelorette parties?

How is that supposed to make me want to
eat at Taco Bell?

And that whole idea of something happening
at a bachelorette party that the police
would have the right to investigate?
How old-fashioned is that?

I remember a time when that would've been
considered sort of funny, because bachelor
parties may have strippers etc. And I
guess some bachelorette parties might have
something sexually explicit happening.

But who cares?

In a world where Viagra is advertised on
prime time TV and the top TV show is
about adulterous housewives, and every
kind of sexual activity is legal as long
as it's consensual, not between a boss
and a worker and not with minors, who cares
what goes on at a bachelorette party,
let alone the police?

That's a small example. Next -- a much
larger one.

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