The Hard Sell

The OH's channel-hopping, annoying as it is, does at least shield me from the worst advertisements. But being off sick has exposed me, repeatedly, to some shockers this week.

Worst offender is the advert for Foxy Bingo. Proof that you can find anything on the Internet, the ad is on Youtube, so here it is for anyone who has not seen it, so you know what the hell I'm on about.



A fox, dressed in a louche velvet suit, intices housewives and ducks to his bingo house, parading down the street to the tune of 'We are Family'. The ruination of a good song is bad enough, but it is the Fox that disturbs me the most. There is something very sexual in his manner that perturbs me. Ducks have no interest in playing bingo, and yet he is luring them along with the women, which makes me suspect his motives.

He is a predator, make no mistake of that. Perhaps it is actually a cautionary tale about online gambling.

Which brings me onto the next awful advertisement - Ristaurante Pizzas. This is one of those European adverts, made cheaply and dubbed into every language. Soft focus candlelit dinner for two, where pizza is being served. The voiceover describes authentic Italian pizzas as made in real Italian restaurants. They sound good - the goo being served on screen looks less appertising, but then subtitle comes up to inform us that it was 'Made in Germany'. As if anyone really believed these pizzas were being made in an Italian restaurant, boxed and sent to Asda! It being a German product doesn't put me off (I was never buying it in the first place) but the manufacturer's name alone should have sufficed - Dr Oetker is not an Italian restauranteur, he sounds like a scientist and this is something he has cooked up in his lab.

This typifies the new honesty in advertising. It seems that controls are getting stricter on advertisements. Advertisers are no longer allowed to sell us the dream without pointing out that it could turn into a nightmare. On the one hand, more honesty is good but on the other, do we really need to be treated like babies? If we can't learn to take advertising with a pinch of salt with having it spelt out for us, what hope is there for us making more important decisions in life?