Comments on: A Disgusting Disappointment

By: Katie

Katie — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:28:34 +0000

I agree with Ellie’s take on the car washing ad, but I think that the rest of the post is great. Props too for managing to integrate David Sedaris into a blog about environmental marketing. He’s hilarious and should be featured everywhere.

By: Ellie

Ellie — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:04:12 +0000

I totally agree with the main points Eric is making, but I would like to defend be carwash ad, which personally I find quite memorable and effective. I would suggest that the carwash ad is not really an example of showing people the wrong thing to do. If the guy was washing the car in his driveway, that would show people the wrong thing to do. But he’s washing his car in the middle of the LAKE, which is an impossible thing to do and therefore funny and attention-getting — it makes you look twice, and makes you think. The point of the ad is not that washing a car is bad per se (and therefore I take issue with Eric’s comment that the picture shows “a guy washing his car the wrong way”) — the point is, it matters WHERE you wash the car. And the most important point is “Driveway = Lake” — which I think comes across quite powerfully, because the image is both jarring and funny.

By: mike

mike — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:13:13 +0000

I’d be interested in comments on another aspect of this photo. Look at the washer, the black socks, the plaid shorts. It screams, this guys a geek, with the hoped for response that I don’t want to be like him. Is this sort of message seen as effective?

By: Kelly

Kelly — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 13:30:30 +0000

I think the reason this car-washing ad sticks with me is because I saw it and immediately went “WHOA! TELL me he’s not really doing that?!?!?” It was an immediate reaction of “You wouldn’t wash your car IN the lake; washing it next to the lake or a storm drain is just as bad!” But I heartily agree that visuals stick with us far more readily than text messages, and showing someone what to do is far more meaningful than telling them — let alone showing them the wrong way but telling them the right way. That conflicts. This ad might work if there was a big red “X” through the image…maybe.

By: Beth Bodenstein

Beth Bodenstein — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:19:16 +0000

excellent piece…made me think & made me smile…thanks