Commercials and I have a very weird relationship. I detest most of them but the ones that bother me most are also the ones I remember. I hate that advertisers know this too. Local dealerships are always the worst. They grab the cutest woman they can find (not usually very cute) and put them in the ad to get your attention. It’s well known that a prettied up woman grabs attention from both sexes. I hate this, and yet it always gets my attention. As much as I want to, everytime I acknowledge the trick in an ad my mind always remembers the dealer.
In this instance the commercial is for a credit card. You can see it here. What bothered me was not the cheesy music which is already overplayed in this medium. But instead the bill for a simple meal at a diner. Two children and one adult somehow managed to spend $65 on 3 burgers and 3 milkshakes. I was in shock. What is in those burgers? But then I thought that perhaps he had included a big tip. But that wouldn’t be printed out on the receipt.
Sure enough after watching the commercial a few times I was able to get a screenshot of the full receipt (click to see). As it turns out, this “diner” had $15 burgers and $5 milkshakes. This diner must be phenomenal. Either that or the receipt was created in post-production and no one thought about whether or not the price would be a distraction.
Now I know I’m an outlier here so Chase probably doesn’t care one bit about the size of this receipt. But let’s pretend that all people are distracted by the receipt. Would Chase marketers be happier that viewers are caught up on an unusual distraction than not notice the commercial at all? I would suppose so.
Just like the “pretty” ladies in those car dealership ads, this diner receipt means I’m much more likely to notice this commercial now, and anytime I see it in the future. You win this round Chase, but I want to know what’s in the food at that diner.
 By The Weakonomist |
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