TMFKris (89.09)

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February 23, 2010 – Comments (1)

Does anyone else get those lowermybills.com ads on the right side of their computer screen featuring, um, non-traditionally beautiful models -- I recall an older man grimacing and a younger man with facial hair way beyond the norm. (I think it's ads for that website. Oddly enough, I can't find the ad right now.)

Perhaps these are targeted to me b/c I've spent time online defending the right of people of all shapes to fly on planes. (I do not want to have that conversation again right now.)

The ads do attract my attention, as my media-trained brain thinks -- wow, why is that not a gorgeous person whom I will be able to date once I buy this product?

I now see the NYT did a piece in 2007 on lowermybills being behind those two-stepping cowboy ads. I found those very annoying. In a side note I also dislike the ads I see on Facebook that imply Obama is asking mothers to go back to school, as if it's war time and the president needs women to grow victory gardens.

Are people getting more immune to online ads? What's the best way to catch their attention?

Kris (Motley Fool copyeditor)

1 Comments – Post Your Own

#1) On February 24, 2010 at 8:50 AM, lemoneater (86.26) wrote:

Kris, I remember hearing that Dove (owned by Unilever) was doing a marketing push using women who aren't professional models to promote their product. I think that there is a trend towards realism in advertising. I wonder how long it will last. Advertising by its very nature embraces the artificial. I have never identified with the impossibly beautiful women. I don't think that most women do. Really beautiful women exist, but most of the women we see in advertisments owe a lot to photoshop. Nature + Art. I think that there is a wider range of acceptable looks in men for advertising and recently the range has widened further. (That said I always want guys to look intelligent, and as if they bathe frequently. If they look like Tom Selleck that is an added bonus, but not necessary.)

Advertising is propaganda at its finest and there are several ways to appeal to people. Advertisers are starting to realize that "one size does not fit all." If we ignore gorgeous people, they will disarm us with the charm of the ordinary guy. We will say he doesn't look like much and read that ad!

However, I think that above average attractiveness will alway be the staple of advertising. But standards of beauty have shifted somewhat over the decades so it will be interesting to see what happens in our lifetimes. Very interesting topic! Have a good day!

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