Color me astonished.
In spite of the online push back to the poorly conceived ad running during last week’s episode of Desperate Housewives, Sprint decided to continue digging the hole they’ve jumped into with chapter two of the tactless slimy smarmy tasteless tale. Sadly, what began as a wife finding hints that her husband’s eye had wandered, last night’s installment confirmed it…then made things worse as the philandering husband lied like a pro, smiling ear to ear, then snuck in a phone call to the other woman from the driveway moments later.
I “get” that the latest craze in marketing is to run serial campaigns that look like the shows they’re embedded in, but…. There’s a big difference between what’s acceptable in the confines of a television show and the boundaries of a t.v. spot. A show comes with a cast of well developed characters and back stories, with no connection to the people sitting on the sofa in our living rooms. Ads, on the other hand, are intended to reach into our lives in a more personal manner, in hopes we’ll identify with the actors or products, then feel compelled to purchase their products or services because we want to be like them or have what they have.
So I ask the cellular provider again—who are you aiming for? Cheating husbands or wronged wives? Who, exactly, do you want to identify Sprint as The Official Sponsor of Philandering Spouses and Broken Marriages?
Congratulations, Sprint. I think you just might be the first company ever to find an iron clad way to guarantee thousands of consumers never, ever do business with you.
Click here to tell me what you think....