Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Why People Make Fun of Marketing

As many of you know, I’ve been working in the Marketing industry for most of my adult life. I’ve seen quite a bit of bad and bizarre marketing and advertising, and these little gems fall decidedly into both. I recently read an article in DM News, normally an extremely boring trade publication, on “unique” mailing lists. Here’s my personal favorites from the top ten weirdest lists they came across:

“Dads Who Throw Turkeys”: What?! This just screams “My Big Redneck Wedding”. Oddly enough, the picture to the right illustrates exactly what I though of. And yes, this is a picture from an actual Turkey Toss COntest in Birmingham Alabama. Note the turkey flying in front of the tree, the belly in mid flight, and the judges table to make sure all is above board.

As it turns out, this list has something to do with bowling. Maybe it’s just me, but perhaps some more though should’ve gone into coming up with a list name that means something to the other 98% of the population.

“Mancation Nation”: This one threw me. What the hell is a “Mancation”, and why would I want to market to people that have them, buy them, sell them, or ingest them? Apparently, an “Mancation” is when dudes from Miller Lite commercials go on a trip to do really manly stuff. Like get really drunk, fart a lot, and kill anything that moves.

“Celebrities”: Sounds innocuous enough. However 48,500 people on the list seems a bit much. Granted, there are many “celebrities” out there (yes Paris I’m talking about you) where we should probably use that term loosely. This list however includes every moron to have every graced the set of a reality TV show. Now that’s loose.


“My Colon MD”: Yikes. I’m thinking a little more “creativity” could have been put into this list to make it a hair more professional, other than “the butt doctor list”. On the other hand the possibilities for people like me are endless. I’d probably go with something like “Doctors Obsessed with Assholes in Medical School”, “Sphincter Specialists”, or my personal favorite “Assholes ‘R Us”.

I mean who in there right mind wouldn't want to "probe the depths" on this guy?

“The Collagen Store”: I’m assuming this is a list of companies that make collagen to be injected into the lips of prima-donnas and porn stars around the world. So, what, do you buy it by the vat? Eeeew.

There you have it – one more pearl from the oyster that is Marketing.

No comments: