From: gerber@orion.astro.uiuc.edu (Richard A. Gerber)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: A3000T ad (was: Re: New A3000T ?!?
Date: 19 Aug 92 19:33:35 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.Bt8x00.DBp
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana

In <1992Aug19.160808.16669@nntp.uoregon.edu> ggiles@cie.uoregon.edu (Gregg Giles) writes:

>In article <Bt72Kt.7nz@news.cso.uiuc.edu> gerber@orion.astro.uiuc.edu (Richard A. Gerber) writes:
>>
>>This was an amazing thing about the ad: you had to read the fine print
>>to figure out what in the heck was being advertised! A dorky cartoon of some

>   You mean the picture of the computer and '040 didn't help any? Amazing...

1. The original poster (whose comments have been deleted) stated that
   he didn't realize until he read the text that there was an '040 in
   the machine. I was agreeing with him.
2. I (and most people) wouldn't know what an '040 looked like if hit in the
   face with one.
3. The only place I've ever seen what an A3000T looked like was in a 
   picture in a magazine. I doubt there is one within 150 miles of me.
   If you gave me one and covered up the C= logo, I'd have no idea
   what kind of computer it was just by looking. Don't expect me to
   recognize a picture in a magazine. 
   
>>character straight out of Amiga World's 'Last 'Licks' column with a
>>knife and fork in his hand is supposed to sell the high end Amiga?

>   So what do you want them to use? They could be like clone retailers and
>splurge half-nude females on the screens with a page full of useless numbers,
>or they could be like Apple and but somebody in a suit smiling and talking
>about how wonderful it is to use a Macintosh.

Maybe somewhere something like:
"Commodore announces the new powerful Amiga 3000T Computer"
Here I immediately see that (1) Commodore is advertising. (2) A computer
is being advertised. (3) There's something "new" and "powerful" about it.

This beats "Good news for the power hungry". (I think that was it.) I read
that and didn't know what was being advertised. So I looked a little
further. I saw that cartoon character with his knife and fork licking his
lips. I turned the page. Only when going through the magazine later did
I notice that it was advertising the A3000T '040. 
Sure, you can say, "You should read these things more carefully." But
advertising is supposed to catch the eye and draw interest.

>   Zax be ungst! What the hell do people want? First people bitched because
>"Commodore never advertises". And now that they do, they get bitched at
>because "the ads are stupid". Come on people, don't look a gift horse in the
>mouth.

The cartoon character will only perpetuate the stereotype that the Amiga
is just a whimsical "game" computer. This may be fine for selling A500s and
A600s, but no one is going to buy an A3000T '040 primarily for playing games.

I mean, really, who was that ad aimed at? I can't figure it out. If it was
just meant as a general announcement that "Look, we've got an '040 machine
out," they could have said that in bold type and communicated the message
much more effectively.

--
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Richard Gerber
Grad Student Physics
gerber@rigel.astro.uiuc.edu
University of Illinois @ Urbana-Champaign
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Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy