The last couple of mornings I’ve been watching some early morning repeats of Will and Grace/Frasier. In the mid – programme break I’ve witnessed a long forgotten advertising technique, something I haven’t seen in years. It is a still ad – a single image advert for an antiques fair to be held in Buxton, I think. There was a crappy shot of some furniture and tons of copy – too much to take in, because the ad was only on screen for a few seconds. No soundtrack, no voice-over just the single-frame ad. It reminded of those naff ads for Indian restaurants or the local vets you used to get in the cinema before the main feature – real home-made ads. Advertising agencies? Pah! Waste of bloody money, how hard can it be to do a f**king advert? Well harder than you suppose. I haven’t seen an ad like that on the TV since the 60’s. Is it a throw-back or a very clever retro idea designed to get my attention and write to all my friends about it? Nah would I fall for that……? Just the 4 out of 10 for cheap-skating.
Tags: advertising, antiques, tv
