Yeah...I think that a lot. Particularly inspirational is the Burger King commercials. They must have some seriously good crack down in Miami at CP+B (the ad agency for BK). I don't get it. And worse, I don't like it. Let's sell burgers and fries with creepy nightmareish characters! Ugh!
But I digress. Back to my original question "WTF, Mate?!" Right, so here's the answer to 97% of those ads: money and/or creative ego. Money is simple. Clients are cheap bastards. All of them. Even my favorite client who has handed me his whole marketing budget and said "do as you please" is a cheap bastard. (just kidding, jeff...you're first-rate fantastic ::mumble, mumble cheap bastard::) The only difference is whether or not they want to squabble over $5 or $500,000.
But money aside, the bigger issue is creative ego. For my largest client, we created a new ad campaign about 7 months ago. Did a huge photoshoot, got beautiful photography, had some great concepts, etc., etc. Creative Director has his way with the copy and the photography and the headlines and everything else, and gives birth to several horrifically overtly gay ads. Disclaimer: I'm in advertising, thereby I love gays and lesbians and whoever else, so this is not to be taken as a slam against sexual preference. Anyhoot, given that our Client is not exactly targetting Out Magazine, Account Management (aka yours truly) steps in and throws up some big red flags. Enter in President of Agency and ensue Battle Royale between President of Agency and Creative Director, resulting in some of the copy getting changed. Ads still have pretty heavy homosexual overtones, but are passable (at best). Ads get put into creative rotation and go to press.
Several months pass and finally ads start appearing in print publications (aka magazines).
Client recieves one of these magazines and calls up President of Agency.
Client: "These ads are beautiful and we love them but um, well, um......."
President of Agency: "Yes????"
Client: "Well, um... when did we start targetting the gay marketplace?"
President of Agency: slaps forehead remembering Battle Royale and having to play moderator between lowly Account Management and all-mighty Creative Director. "Fuck."
Moral of the story: Those ads that make you say "WTF, Mate?!" Probably the result of someone not listening to Account Management saying the exact same thing. Love your Account Management.
