Marketers are eschewing big-budget special effects and wildly imaginative scenarios in their advertising in favor of a more realistic, demonstration-oriented approach. That's the point of view
expressed by marketing consultants Marc Babej and Tim Pollak, partners in Reason Inc. "Whether prompted by the popularity of reality TV, or the realization that consumers are no longer buying
metaphorical hype, we may be entering a new era of no-holds-barred, true-life demonstrations," they write in this essay. They use as an example the current campaign from Volkswagen for the Jetta,
which depicts two men driving along a street when they are suddenly hit by another car. "Real people having a real accident?" they ask. It's such a commonplace occurrence, it's hard to believe we
haven't seen it before in advertising. Yet we haven't. Why? Two reasons. First, because car companies feared that if they showed a car actually crashing, people might think it is accident-prone.
Second, because showing one car smash into another is not very 'creative,' in the accepted conventions of the industry." Another spot cited is an anti-smoking ad from the New York City Health
Department that features a cancer victim who breathes through a tube in his throat. "It's a fascinating approach, because it dares go beyond the realm of commonly accepted advertising etiquette,"
according to Pollak and Babej. "The protagonist is so real and vulnerable, his story so pitiable, that the ads are at once repelling and compelling, whipsawing our emotions.
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