Advertising
There is a television commercial I hate more than any other.
AT&T Wireless is determined to make sure everyone knows that they let you roll over unused minutes and you’d better be grateful for it. Unfortunately, they present this worthy quality in a story where children, through a series of commercials, ask their mother for more minutes. When asked what they did with the minutes they had, they tell her that they threw them away because they were old. “These are rollover minutes! They’re perfectly good! You know some children don’t have rollover minutes!” etc., etc., evoking the childhood memories of those children in China for whom you should clean your own plate. I get the point. Only spoiled children wouldn’t appreciate having a better deal on their wireless service, would effectively throw the deal away by using a different carrier.
I just can’t get past the kids. They’re not normal. Any normal kids, if they absolutely couldn’t bring themselves to use the icky rollover minutes, would listen to the diatribe once, and thereafter lie. They’d used all those rollover minutes on discussing homework with their friends, a really important test coming up, something that would shut the mom up. And of course, if they were real, they’d lie badly and the mom would, if she were real, take the damned telephones away from the spoiled snots and tell them that if they didn’t want to use the minutes provided they could do without.
I can’t get past equating unused rollover minutes with some sort of necessity. The only reason the mother reasonably couldn’t or wouldn’t take the phones is if they are as important, as necessary, as food, shelter, and clothing. Rather obviously more necessary than discipline or affection. There are children going without food. Without adequate medical care. Without access to computers and books. And, according to AT&T, without brand-spankin’-new cell phone minutes.
I was finally so annoyed with the commercial that I actually tried to find an email address or contact form I could use to tell AT&T what I thought. Unfortunately, their website seems to believe that if you’re not a customer wanting specific assistance with your plan, you’re not worth listening to.
As a result of the AT&T commercial, I have chosen Sprint as the sponsor for the cause I chose on Social Vibe (see the sidebar), an amazing site that matches givers to needs and creates opportunities to give for all of us, especially those of us without the funds to give cell phones to our children.
Besides, I like Sprint’s commercials.
3 comments
I too HATE those commercials. And really, isn’t it time for a new advertising campaign? It’s gone on FAR too long.
And go you for choosing the SocialVibe. What a cool program!
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I think AT&T needs a new advertising agency. Remember the previous ones? Too bad you don’t have AT&T, you’d have enough bars to go to the prom with the cool guy instead of the geek, or lie to your dad about being with a friend instead of parking with a boy, and on, and on. I’m tired of the stereotypes.
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