Ads NBA Playoffs

-

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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Elections And Political Bullies

-
Image
Forget democracy.   It should be called political bullying. We are watching it in the prelude to the Canadian election on the 19 th of October, 2015.   Americans have also started their political bullying for the looming presidential election next year. So many trees wasted on books about democracy.   Some countries have big budgets for invading other countries ‘ to defend democracy’ but it is seldom practised in campaigning for elections.   Calling opponents names and printing flyers attacking each other is behaviour that will not be tolerated in kindergarten, but it is all legal, in campaigning.   It is irritating and such a let-down to the whole notion of democracy.   Grown-up men and women behaving like Grade One kids. It is also misleading because many voters believe it is real hatred.   Don’t let that fool you.   These politicians play golf together, attend the same dinner parties, eat and drink at the same social events, share jokes and cut deals in parliament.   They
Read more

Comfort Food As Regret Food

-
Image
Chicken curry. Comfort food is good for the soul, which usually bleeds in winter from icy roads, bad drivers that want to annihilate pedestrians, frozen fingers and toes that take a sabbatical.   What happened to my toes?   I thought I was wearing special socks for boots? We therefore have a right to comfort food which throws doctors’ orders out of the window and has no loyalty to calories.   No calculator on the table, thanks very much.   Piece of bread 5 calories, half a banana 10 calories, sugar-free cheesecake 2,000 calories.   Ah! Ah!  We only live once. Naw!   Comfort food is old school food with its compulsory second helping.   It involves licking fingers and giving a big sigh, about the good life, which is shelter, food, love and debt.   The problem is the zip.   The jeans remind you that comfort food can also be called you will regret food .   Home sweet home is even sweeter in winter after surviving blowing snow and bumper to bumper traffic. What is more welcoming th
Read more

No Air Miles

-
Image
I don’t have Air Miles.   I’m considering putting that on a T-Shirt because I cannot go to the drugstore (chemist) or coffee shop without the cashier asking me if I have air miles. We waited for about two minutes the other day, while this guy looked for his Air Miles card in his overweight wallet.   For what?   For a few points. I don’t have air miles because Mathematics is a foreign language.   I was never good in numbers. That is why I squashed the idea of being an investment banker very early in life.   I understand you can invest in cornfields before the soil is turned up or pork bellies even before a baby pig is born. That is how I view air miles, investing in tomorrow or the unknown.   I’m the dumb one.   Some people understand this air miles’ thing so well, I overheard one customer saying: I can even convert my points into cash. Points and air miles are the same thing in Canada and the U.S.   Drugstores or clothing stores even give you a card to collect point
Read more