Gogglebox Adverts

Adverts! I hate them. I truly do. The only purpose they serve as far as I’m concerned is providing time enough to make a cup of tea or endure another hated activity – washing up. The length between adverts on some channels is long enough to complete a mountainous sinkful and make a brew.

The only thing which will halt my automatic move to the kitchen when these abominations hit the small screen is an engaging one. They are few and far between. So far this year only two have managed to capture my attention enough and keep my bum attached to the sofa. But I’m not going to tell you which ones they are just yet. Instead I’m going to keep you guessing whilst reviewing the ones I find annoying.

Let’s begin with perfume ads. Is it just me or are they weird? I always fail to see the point of them and am often very confused by what it is they’re wanting me to feel or imagine. Perhaps I fail to be engaged since I’ve used the same perfume for years and plan on doing so well into the future unless they stop making it.  While we’re talking ablutions, let’s consider those shampoo ads either claiming to do everything possible to ensure our locks look super or take us to a holiday location we could only ever dream of. I don’t mind the ones making fun of themselves. At least they accept the ridiculousness of it all.

Closely linked to adverts associated with what we need to keep us looking and smelling good is a particular laundry softener which has decided to use the Red Riding Hood theme this year. It starts out looking fairly interesting but I groaned aloud as soon as I realised what it was advertising. Green & Blacks also chose to go down the Red Riding Hood path in the woods, but at least theirs is a bit more interesting than the laundry softener option. Animals a clearly flavour of the week, month and year as they abound in advertising from credit score checking to banking to insurance.  

Current car ads have also latched onto the ‘let’s include an animal’ or allude to them to make things more interesting and lure those buyers in. In my less than enthusiastic advert watching I’ve counted no less than 4 incorporating the idea so far. There’s the feisty goat lording it over everything except a VW, the pack of dogs submitting to a Landrover, the wolf cowed by a Rover and the girl in the woods taming the car of her choice in the CarWow ad.

I wondered how long it would be before Brexit made its way into adverts. I wasn’t disappointed. So far I’ve seen two. The first is for Ancestry DNA and has a wonderful message we could have used before the whole Brexit debacle. The other is one of the favourites I mentioned at the start of this post. It features the comedian Richard Ayoade, who I find very amusing and has a terrific message. The only thing which annoys me about this ad is that it’s for HSBC, so much so that I'll not bother posting the vid here for you to see.

Now that I’ve let you into the secret of the first ad I liked this year, it’s time to let you know about the second. This one is for Cadbury’s and warmed the cockles of my heart.  View for yourself and decide.

Were your cockles equally warmed? Let's hear your thoughts. Are there ads out there which ‘get your goat’? Are there others which truly touch you? Let me know. My comments section awaits the flood of shared vids.