Monday, February 11, 2008

When Ads Fail: Comcast's More More More Spots

I've been plagued lately by the series of Goodby Silverstein commercials for Comcast Cable. These spots seem to be a nod to the old Buchanan and Goodman "break in" records wherein clips from popular songs are utilized as dialog / responses. The three spots that I've seen so far utilize "Lady Marmalade," "Rebel Yell," and "More More More." This last song title is what the three tunes all have in common -- they all contain the lyric "more more more."

Unfortunately for Comcast, as an answer to the question of Comcast HD television this "more more more" doesn't make the viewer think "They offer a ton of channels/options." Rather, this seems to be a statement about price leaving viewers to think that Comcast cost more, more, more. What might be even worse is that the use of the lyrics from the aforementioned songs isn't done very skillfully at all.

"Rebel Yell" -- The man speaking Billy Idol lines does so three times. Twice he's told that he's "wrong" to do so. His wife is not a rebel and he doesn't need to sell his soul to her. You'd want the lyrics to add to the "logic" of the spot, not detract from it.

"More More More" -- The woman using the Andrea True Connection vocals is portrayed as the mother of the new Comcast HD subscriber. Her honey-flavored lyric about "Baby you know, my love for you is real," is altogether creepy in a mother to son exchange. Perhaps Comcast is appealing to the crucial pro-incest demographic.

"Lady Marmalade" -- This is the only one of the three commercials that actually uses a second and third clip from a song for any good uses, albeit forced ones, with the "mocho choco lata ya ya" being used for the name of a coffee. Clever, yes, but this one bit isn't enough to hang a campaign around.

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