Ads NBA Playoffs

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I don’t like ads.

They seem to have more rights than us mortals, even though we used our money to buy computers and cellphones and pay for internet connection, from telecommunications companies.

Enter the NBA playoffs and I was forced to tolerate advertisements.  O.K. You have something to sell.  What is it?  Make it fast.  Remember I’m mad already because of the interruption.

Nestea had the best ad because the story did not overshadow the product.  Boy likes girl. Boy is shy.  He finds solace in his manufactured Nestea.  We know the product already from the store fridge, when we buy fruit juice, water or fizzy drinks.  Girl notices boy.  Boy still scared.  He drinks his Nestea.  He wants to offer the girl some, but zero courage.  It’s an ad I’ll always remember.

Enter Tangerine, which I understand was the marquee ad at the Toronto Raptors’ Victory Parade.  It says it’s a bank.  No, I won’t Google it.  The ad should talk to me.  It should answer the five questions my journalism professors taught me: who what why when and where?  Period, as Americans say.

I thought it was a credit card company because it ran an ad with a cab driver paying with a Tangerine card at a restaurant last year, if I remember correctly.

The NBA playoffs’ television ads told me it’s a bank.  Is it a traditional bank like Main Street and shopping mall banks?  Is it an online bank?  Millions of people watched the playoffs.  What did they learn about this bank? 

Will I abandon the bank my parents and grandparents used before I was born and switch to Tangerine?  No.  I won’t Yahoo it.  You tell me why your ad spoilt my viewing pleasure.

We are told that newspapers went out of business because advertisements left the print neighbourhood and went online.  Some people risk life and limb to post content, especially video content that will trigger a million views.  Their target is advertising.  Some company will pay them to advertise pudding or red sugar.

I still don’t like ads because they are unwanted guests.  Friends and family know what happens when they show up at the door without telling us. Why are ads different?  Why do they have right of way?

By:  Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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