The End of Ads?

It is surprising how little is known about advertising's dirty little secret: Namely, that companies continue to spend millions and even billions of dollars on ads which simply do not work.

Most assume that since advertising is a 40 billion-dollar-a-year industry that advertising, in its various forms, works. If it didn't work, no one would pay big bucks for all those ads, right?  Wrong, suggests the evidence.

Got Sales?

The milk industry doesn't, at least not in the direction they'd hoped for.  Despite the popularity of their "Milk Mustache / Got Milk?" ads, the fact is that milk sales have done nothing but decline since the campaign's release.   Ad research companies have studied the failure, concluding that many people, especially girls, believe that milk makes you fat, something the "Got Milk?" campaign doesn't address.

Other popular yet failing campaigns include:

 - Yo Queiro Taco Bell - sales declined and the ad agency was fired for it.

 - The Energizer Bunny - Duracell remains number one even without a "hit" commercial.

From 1995-2000, General Motors became America's largest advertiser, spending a whopping 17.7 billion dollars. What did they get for their money? A 3.9 percent decrease in market share. In 1995 they controlled 34.0 percent of the market; in 2000, 28.1 percent. Now they've received billions in government bailout money - millions will be spent on advertising.

Entertaining But Ineffective

One reason for advertising's problem may be the fact that ad campaigns can win prestigious ad-industry awards whether or not the ads accomplish anything for their clients.   The awards are won based solely on the ads' effects on the judges, encouraging entertaining but not necessarily effective ads.

The Budweiser "Whassup?" campaign has won more awards than any other campaign in the history of advertising.   So, how are Budweiser's sales? They've decreased every year for a decade.   Since advertising awards aren't tied to advertising effectiveness, ad companies that increase their client's sales can easily leave award ceremonies empty-handed.

Are Ads Believable?

Advertising isn't credible.   Ads are self-serving and biased, so we don't believe them and can find no reason to watch or read them.   According to experts, what we do believe are third-party endorsements, news and information that we read in articles or books.

The End of Ads?

Ads won't leave us anytime soon, in fact advertising increases every year. But as experts tell us, when the amount of advertising goes up, each ad's individual effectiveness goes down.

Many agree that today's advertising has become background noise - a nuisance in our lives that we do our best to ignore. We flip channels during TV commercials, tune out radio spots and turn the page on magazine ads.

Sources: The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR by Al Ries and Laura Ries.
Full Frontal PR by Richard Laermer.