Good and awful NZ TV ads

I frequently share ads that I like because they demonstrate something. It could be the effectiveness of their message, the unique presentation, the humour, any number of things. Today I have two ads, one I really like and one, well, one I really don’t.

The ad above is called “Road Commander”, and it’s part of a campaign created by FCB to promote VTNZ’s new campaign promoting the slogan, “We’re on your side”. Among other things, VTNZ is one of the companies evaluating vehicles (and trailers) for roadworthiness in New Zealand, according to current regulations. A vehicle with a “Warrant of Fitness”, as it’s called, can be legally driven on the roads, and a vehicle without one cannot (and if it is driven without one, and is an accident, most insurance companies won’t pay).

What I like about the ad is the offbeat Mad Max-like character in the storyline, and the very Kiwi humour. The part where they talk about wiper blades is especially well done. I think I could get sick of this ad, but it’s still new, so right now I like it.

At the other extreme, is an ad for Specsavers, a chain of places selling optometrist services and discount eyeglasses. The ad features people becoming all emotional when asked to sell their eyes.

The TV version of the ad isn’t online at the moment, so the video below is the long version. It provides a fuller context that might have helped the TV ad, but without that fuller context the TV ad is just plain weird.

The TV ad provides no reason to think the emotional responses are genuine because there’s little or no build-up to provide motivation for those responses. It comes across as fake and the ad as manipulative. It’s a terrible ad—eye-rollingly bad, in fact.

This is an outlier for the company, though, which has produced some quite good ads. This just isn’t one of them.

So, up top is a current ad I really like, and down below is a long version of a current ad I really don’t like. I don’t think I’ve ever shared an ad I don’t like before, and it was probably time to do so.

But the one up top definitely is much better. At least, until I get sick of it.



Update – 25 September: Blind people aren't happy with the Specsavers ad: "Opinion: Specsavers' Priceless Eyes ad is an insult to blind people".