Friday 28 October 2011

When is a story a non-story?


A headline in today's AdAge newsletter caught my eye:

"Hey, Advertisers: New York Has a Bridge to Sell You".

It's a tad misleading if truth be told.

In essence it's an article about the selling of ad space on the boom gates of a couple of bridges in New York state.

No not New York. New York state.

See what I mean about misleading.

I seriously doubt anyone gives a shit about ads on toll gates on bridges in the countryside.

But hey what would I know?

I'm just an over opinionated copywriter with a blog not an esteemed industry publication.

Anyway what really cracked me up about the article was the amount of hyperbole in it.

Here's a couple of choice quotes:

"This is so 'in your face' advertising we couldn't pass it up. It's brilliant."

"Using every resource to be innovative and work with the business community just makes sense."

"I just think it's terrific advertising to have an ad come down right in front of you, even if it's just for three to five seconds."

Seriously even a crappy hard up for a story current affair show wouldn't run a story like this.

And with all the change our industry has been going through of late why oh why would AdAge?