From: johnsonchris@bvc.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.video
Subject: Re: Sega - Ads?
Date: 5 Oct 92 19:49:25 CDT
Organization: Buena Vista College, Storm Lake, IA

In article <1992Oct5.162614.4152@ryn.mro4.dec.com>, ski@msbcs.enet.dec.com (John Szczypinski) writes:
> 
> I've seen several of them.  I do not like them at all; I would categorize
> them as some of the poorest produced and least acceptable TV commercials
> I have seen.

  Well, I would not say the poorest.  There has been some crap that has 
been shown on television from some larger companies than paltry Sega.
> 
> With all the screaming, screeching and explosion sounds combined with
> the nauseatingly fast, strobing, split-second glimpses of images (only
> about half of which are actual game shots), the advert./marketing team
> is pushing a rather tiresome and over-used TV ad style/formula.  This
> style (I'll call it Flash-O-Rama) aims to bombard the eyes and ears with
> inputs that are irresistibly attention grabbing (sirens, strobing, flashing,
> etc.) at rates fast enough that they require the mind to kick into an
> abnormally accelerated and overloaded mode that it would not normally
> be in while watching TV.

  Strange.  I can understand how some can hate this sort of effect 
(anyone remember Max Headroom?  Blip-verts?  **BOOM**), but I seem to like 
the effect that Sega has put down.  I, too, have seen some bad Flash-O-Rama 
ads (just watch eMpTyV for more than an hour at a time, and you'll see your 
fill)  but I think that these ads work better than others.  For me, at 
least, they entertain as well as exhilerate.  And for me, that's probably 
one of the best ways to sell a product.

> Unfortunately, with advertising, it is not whether people like the ads,
> it is whether the ads are effective against their target audience.  In
> this case, I would say they are.  I would estimate the target audience
> of this particular ad campaign to be between the ages of 7 and 17.  This
> Flash-O-Rama style of ad has been proven effective with children, not only
> in the semi-scientific studies that have been done on the subject, but
> also in real-world increased sales and changes in market shares.
> 
> Kids today don't stand a chance.  Child abuse takes many forms.  Advertisers
> have learned far too well how to press children's buttons, how to present
> the exact stimulus to elicit the desired response.  Some advertising and
> marketing teams know more about child psychology than Dr. Spock ever dreamed
> possible.  Sadly, I can't think of a single time I've seen them use this
> knowledge and expertise for any purpose which is good for the children,
> such as education or even in the "Don't use drugs" campaign.

  Well, it's true that kids are subverted to the max by advertisers, but 
you must realize that these advertisers must earn their money.  There are 
scrupulous advertisers who try to earn while entertaining, while there are 
others who push a product to it's max with no real "vision" of that product 
gained by the viewer.  I don't think this is the case with the Sega ads, 
though.  The ads, in my opinion, probablly show more of the product then 
some of the ads released by Sega, Nintendo, NEC, Atari, in the past.  Sure 
there's some glitz thrown in, and some humor, but the main emphasis (at 
least in most of the ads) is the GAME itself, and not some idea of the 
game.

  Advterising is a touchy market, and what may be entertainment to one 
person is blatent abuse by another.  In my eyes, the Sega ads have not 
crossed that line.  Like I said earlier, they at least give us a 
representation of the game (which is more than can be said about some of 
Nintendo's ads (i.e. Zelda III, etc.)

  I suppose this is the wrong section to get into the debate over Good 
Ads/Bad Ads though.
 
--------------------------------------- ----------------------------------
Chris Johnson                         // "MINIMUM WAGE!!
From The Beaver Cave VAX Lab         //   YAAAA!  **Wh-Crack**"
Buena Vista College                 //    --T.M.B.G. "Minimum Wage"
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