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News (Media Awareness Project) - US PA: Ads Given Super Scrutiny
Title:US PA: Ads Given Super Scrutiny
Published On:2003-01-27
Source:York Daily Record (PA)
Fetched On:2008-01-21 13:33:45
ADS GIVEN SUPER SCRUTINY

Members Of A York Advertising Firm Offer Their Takes On Commercials Costing
About $2 Million Each

As two teams battled for which would be considered the greatest football
team in Super Bowl XXXVII, another tournament raged when the players went
into time out and the advertisers took over.

Like many watching the big game, employees of Marketing Works, a marketing,
advertising and public relations firm in York, also came for the ads. They
gathered at Sandy and Mack Wynegar's Wrightsville home, not only to watch
the ads, but to rate the good, the bad and the really bad.

Some commercials, including a spot from Reebok featuring a football player
tackling employees in an office, made the cut, and will probably be
recognized in the firm's awards this morning.

Others, such as the Subway ad featuring Jared, who became famous when he
lost weight eating the subs along with diet and exercise, got a
tongue-lashing almost as brutal as Mr. Blackwell's yearly dish on bad fashion.

"I'm going to revive my comment from last year on this one," said Martin
Bentley Krebs, Creative Services Manager for the company. "Go away (Jared),
or I will eat you and your skinny friends, too."

Years ago, Krebs was working from home and watching the Super Bowl with a
legal pad in hand. He began taking notes on the commercials, which are
usually a hot topic of discussion around the office on the Monday after the
game.

Soon, the commercials became the center of "awards," or tongue-in-cheek
descriptions of how employees felt about the ads. For example, last year,
Krebs bestowed the "Governor's Trophy for the Most Colossal Waste of
Money," award to the Britney Spears/Pepsi through-the-decades campaign.

"It did not deliver nearly at the level that the hype promised it would,"
he said.

On rating the ads, Krebs added, "Sure, we're advertising professionals ...
but we're also consumers whose opinions and tastes run just as wide and
varied as the audiences we seek to target."

This year, some advertisers spent between $1.9 million to $2.1 million on
30-second spots in the year's most-watched televised event, according to
the Associated Press. During the game's first two quarters, 30 of about 61
spots had been shown.

The commercials covered a broad spectrum, from teasers for ABC's own shows,
to a Bud Light commercial featuring a man with three arms, to a Levi's spot
with buffalo running through a city, to Willie Nelson using shaving cream
to pitch H&R Block's services.

Viewers also got to see previews for new movies soon to be in theaters,
including the latest installment in the Terminator franchise, "Terminator
3: Rise of the Machines," with Arnold Schwarzenegger and an unstoppable
female cyborg.

A public service announcement about drugs riveted the group of about a
dozen gathered at the Wynegar house. The spot showed a woman looking at a
pregnancy test with her husband, waiting for the results.

At first, viewers are led to believe the couple would be having a baby.
Then the words on the screen showed they'd be the youngest grandparents on
the block. The test was for their teen-aged daughter, who had used
marijuana and made a poor decision.

"I thought it was pretty powerful," said Brenda Riddle, senior graphic
designer. "You go from being happy for them, to the reality of being a
parent and drugs. It hits close to home."

Many in the crowd agreed, scribbling down notes of praise for the ad.
Riddle did question the ad's placement, which came after one that left the
entire room laughing out loud.

Praise for other ads came from those gathered, including 8-year-old Sean
Smeltzer, who came to the party with his father, Allen, and mother,
Shirley, who works at the firm. He loved a commercial for Dodge trucks that
involved high speed and a man throwing up - one the rest of the group
thought was not so hot.

"It was gross, but it was really cool," Sean said.
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