More Bad Ads on TV and Cable – A Critique

I received such an outpouring of comments to my recent bad T.V. and cable ads article that I thought I’d give this another shot.

Currently, there are so many bad ads I had no problem finding truly dreadful examples.

First, let’s check out an ad campaign that worked, American Eagle’s ads featuring Sydney Sweeney, a popular young Hollywood actress.

Apparently, she not only has good genes, but good jeans.

When those American Eagle Sydney Has Great Jeans ads broke a couple of weeks ago, three things happened.  Immediately, the “progressive left” predictably lost their minds, flooding TikTok and YouTube with screaming video fits, calling Sydney a Nazi while claiming her ads support eugenics. Neither is remotely true.  She’s just a naturally beautiful woman who looks fantastic in jeans.  Clearly, she wasn’t afraid to tell – or show – the world that she has both great jeans and great genes.

That is a great ad tag line.

T.V. commercials are designed to boost the bottom line.  By this criterion, these ads worked like gangbusters.  It didn’t hurt that outspoken icons, from Donald Trump to Dr. Phil, praised American Eagle for their ad campaign.  Financially, this fashion jean maker literally sold out their blue jeans inventory while their stock – according to Forbes – hit its highest point in six months.  Their market cap shot up by $200 million dollars in the first days of the campaign.

That is powerful advertising.

Moving away from never-fail cheesecake ads, there is another new Orange advertiser.  Yes, Orange is indeed the new orange.  Why this remains so is beyond me.  There is no study I’ve seen suggesting that orange is a palate that sells products.