Objective Advertising Claim Testing
Since the dawn of… umm… as long as anyone can remember, companies have been trying desperately to reach consumers with advertisements for their products. Some of these endorsements are very straightforward, while others try to be humorous. However, once in a while advertisements will be ridiculous enough to make you stop and think, “what the hell?” Over the span of the past week, I have been testing a few of these outstandingly outlandish commercials to find the real truth behind the products themselves.
When I first saw the series of Red Stripe commercials featuring some random Jamaican guy making hilariously crazy claims about the lager, I couldn’t help but want to test them out for myself (yes, subliminal advertising technique). Well, Red Stripe isn’t exactly my beverage of choice, but for the sake of testing I can let it slide. While I was down in Ann Arbor over this past weekend visiting some friends at U of M, I decided Saturday morning pregaming would be a perfect opportunity.
Test #1: “Red Stripe: the beer in the short, stubby, ugly bottle. If ugly people stand next to a Red Stripe, they look beautiful!” (http://youtube.com/watch?v=yRQ0lcap-x8) Okay, simple enough. So there I am, standing on the front lawn (and by lawn I mean beach volleyball court) of the particular frat house I was at, holding a Red Stripe. With literally thousands of people walking down the street to get to the game, these were optimal conditions. It took a few minutes, but then suddenly, out of nowhere, a girl comes up to me and asks me if I knew I had beautiful eyelashes. Me? Beautiful eyelashes? It must be the ugly beer I was holding. Verdict: TRUF
Test #2: “Red Stripe and reggae: teaching our white friends how to dance for over seventy years!” (http://youtube.com/watch?v=BfGkhhm4vXw) Well, it just so happens that not only am I white, I don’t know how to dance either. But how to test the reggae factor of the claim? It must have been a stroke of fate, but not a moment later the ubiquitous Soulja Boy could be heard blaring over the speakers. While not technically reggae, for all intents and purposes it was good enough. I don’t know if it was the alcohol consumption, Soulja Boy’s incredible talent, or just the presence of Red Stripe itself, but before I knew it I was busting out the Soulja Boy dance in front of hundreds of people. Very, very badly. badly enough, in fact, that people looked, laughed, and told me to stop. Verdict: KINDA IFFY
After the Red Stripe test had gone so successfully, I decided to do another subjective advertising claim test. And even though I’ve written more than is technically sufficient for this assignment, I’m going to tell you about this one too. I’m sure everyody’s seen the AXE body stray commercials touting the “AXE Effect”. The idea of being tackled by dozens of beautiful, scantily-clad women sounded rather painful, but in a sexy way. And it just so happened that I had some AXE laying around in my bathroom that hadn’t been used since high school gym class. Score.
Test #3: “The AXE Effect” (http://youtube.com/watch?v=I9tWZB7OUSU) Armed with my couple-year-old bottle of “Phoenix”, I ventured to the haven of scantily-clad girls: Lakeside Mall. As i walked up to the food court entrance, body spray in hand, I knew this was going to be either awesome, or really really awkward. It turned out to be the latter. As I ventured to the middle of the mall, I proceeded to spread my arms and spray myself down for a solid eight or ten seconds. As the commercial claims, “spray more, get more.” I closed my eyes and waited for the imminent onslaught of probably-not-legal teenage girls. Unfortunately (actually, it was probably fortunate), it never came. Apparently, the all the AXE Effect includes is weird looks and people migrating away from me. Maybe the AXE was expired, and thus its effect rendered futile. Either way… Verdict: AWW NO
After a barrage of advertising claim testing, I came away slightly disappointed. Apparently these advertisements are meant more to capture attention than anything else and, aside from Red Stripe teaching me to dance, are not based on actual results. Advertisers use this to create an image, and in the process left me with a combination of discouragement and gained knowledge. I’m going to stop writing, because this is way too long. If you actually took the time to read the whole thing, I applaud you.
Mike Stoll
Mike, interesting if less than scientific. I will assume you are 21, as I do not condone underage drinking, particularly in conjunction with this class.
I would also question the validity of the only positive result of your “test”…what if you do indeed have lovely eyelashes, with or without a comparison product?
although very funny, there is some truth to mike’s statements. what we percieve a commercial as, or an advertisment, may be very far from what actually happens in real life when you have the product. there is an enticing element that leads people to buy the most unnecessary things.
~Danielle