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If Every Brand Is Funny Online, Is Anything Funny?
- m1nes 3y ago“ People don't buy from clowns." - Claude C. Hopkins ” Most brands are _trying_ to be funny.
- hammock 3y agoI work in marketing. Every brand I know complains that there is no humor anymore. And that they can’t be funny, and have to walk on eggshells with watered down messaging, because there are so many different groups that are easily offended.
- fullshark 3y agoYeah brands aren't funny (if they ever were), they are "clever" and "snarky" to the point of irritation. Sincerity is seen as unhip and unsophisticated and all the brands don't want that.
- Arrath 3y agoI think it's the same vein of quippy, pithy, nothing-is-serious line of humor that started to infect film after the success of the Avengers and the follow on films.
- lancesells 3y agoThat seems to follow the comics. I think for the last 20 years or so Marvel comic characters are all sarcastic one-liner comedians committing ultra-violence on each other every month.
- hightrix 3y agoI don't work in marketing. My exposure to ads/commercials is generally only during live sports. The Superbowl used to be not only the ultimate NFL event but also the "super bowl" of commercials. They used to make you laugh. We used to actually want to watch them. The last 5-ish years of Superbowls have completely flipped that. Now we mute during commercials because they are all so sterile and unfunny or faking sincerity about this year's major social topic. Now, watching NFL, the commercials are actively grating, annoying, and the complete opposite of entertaining. I mute these shitty commercials now. I used to love them. Marketing departments have ruined yet another thing that used to be enjoyable.
- blastro 3y agoWASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSUPPPP???? WASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSUUUUUUUUUUUUUPPP??? Oh yeah commercials used to be so good...
- jstarfish 3y agoIf you're still talking about it 24 years later, it did what it was supposed to. > Heinerscheid, who became a vice president at the company in July 2022, stated that her goal was to evolve the Bud Light advertising to make it more inclusive, and to move it away from its "fratty and out-of-touch humor". (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Bud_Light_boycott https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Bud_Light_boycott) "Fratty and out-of-touch humor" stuck the landing well enough to be remembered for 24 years and counting. Budweiser's customer base being both brand-loyal and outspoken homophobes, Heinerscheid thought it would be a hip and trendy idea to associate a trans influencer with the brand. Now Budweiser is on its deathbed. Talk about being out-of-touch...Heinerscheid must have been the former VP of advertising at Quizno's.
- Clamchop 3y agoBudweiser is on its deathbed? I doubt that very much.
- LeafItAlone 3y ago> If you're still talking about it 24 years later, it did what it was supposed to. Grandparent comment: > Now, watching NFL, the commercials are actively grating, annoying, and the complete opposite of entertaining. These are not mutually exclusive. Perhaps toeing that line is a key to good marketing?
- dieselgate 3y agoThe ironic thing about that one is I can't recall what the ad was for
- hightrix 3y agoI know your being sarcastic, but the first time that ad aired, everyone loved it. Yes it got played out just like the Bud Wise Er frogs, or the Real Men Of Genius, but the first couple were hilarious.
- mdre 3y agohttps://archive.ph/8lqJT https://archive.ph/8lqJT
- system16 3y agoIt irritates me more than it should, but I hate how virtually all major brands and sports teams seem to have the same “voice” on social media now. They all have this “desperate to be hip” and snarky tone of an urban teenager, all express the same restrained support for the social issue of the day (regional accounts may be excluded), and all overuse emoji.
- dinkleberg 3y agoI’m right there with you. The constant attempt to be relevant and jump in on every situation is obnoxious. We can see right through you that you’re trying to manipulate us.
- didntcheck 3y agoI'm still not sure why so many people think that random household product companies should be a source of political opinions. But for some reason there is consumer demand for that, at least in America. It almost makes the obsession with movie stars' takes on unrelated current affairs seem sensible in comparison
- thegrim33 3y agoHalf the population has a double digit IQ. The methodology has converged on what it has because it works on the majority of the population. Most people don't see through it.
- s1artibartfast 3y agoI agree that it is the strategy because it works, but I dont think you can just blame it on the stupids. A lot of social branding is made by the upper class, for the upper class. After all, they are the ones with disposable income looking for meaning at the top of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
- rrsmtz 3y agoRich != Smart
- andrewflnr 3y agoIf all comedians are funny, is anything funny? Please. The problem is clearly that they're all only trying to be funny and most of them are not very good at it.
- anvil-on-my-toe 3y agoRight. Low-effort corporate snark wasn't funny to begin with. Write better jokes.
- pizzafeelsright 3y agoI've been reading these funny tweets for years from sh!tposters for years. It's funny but offers zero value. Wendy's was the first that gained traction, I think, and pivoted to a big payout.
- Lammy 3y agoThis is Steak-Umm erasure ;)
- Clamchop 3y agoHumor, irreverence, formality, political correctness, or whatever quality doesn't seem to be the issue so much as it is authenticity of any kind. But advertising never was authentic. The goal is to drive sales using whatever tools the audience can tolerate, however shameless, and advertising has always pushed boundaries, followed by the inevitable wave of copycats that turn the innovative into the mundane. The tool in this case is constructing a parasocial sockpuppet personality as if McDonald's or whatever deserves a seat at your digital table in between your actual friends. When everyone is just an avatar grinding for likes and followers anyway, they might as well be.
- vimax 3y agoGreat take. I feel like the personal brand influencers love seeing ads, they look up to high budget ads as the culture they should be emulating.
- local_crmdgeon 3y agoI'm begging everyone to embrace New Sincerity and Solarpunk. Doomerism, snark, and irony is extremely lame, and when corporations do it it's even lamer. Wendys social media is dystopian. The future is going to be fucking awesome. We're gonna have cute girls on ebikes. We're going to have GMO food that eliminates hunger worldwide, and robots that harvest them and end farm worker exploitation. You're gonna have solar panels on your ADU, they'll power a little light, and you're gonna read a book and listen to the bugs and life will be good.
- s1artibartfast 3y agoThank god - people are making themselves miserable and digging their own graves with cynicism. Cynicism is not synonymous with realism. Optimism is as much about what you want to happen as what you think will happen.