When Advertising Backfires

When I started to market my books, I gained a new appreciation for advertising.

I got it. Without advertising people wouldn’t know there are options for things they need or want. In a lot of ways, advertising is a win-win for the people involved. Advertisers pay places like TV stations, newspapers and internet sites to display something that will entice people to buy their wares. These outlets then make money to support whatever business they are running.

My family gets the Sunday newspaper each week. With all the other ways to get news these days, my wife and I don’t really need the newspaper for news. Why do we get it? For two reasons:

1. For the coupons.

2. For the comics.

I’m serious.

My wife is a wizard when it comes to coupons and the Sunday paper is a great source. She saves enough each week to pay for the cost of the paper several times over.

I love to read the comics each Sunday. But lately, I’ve become a bit disgruntled when a form of advertising has become a hindrance to my weekly reading of the comics.

When pulling the comics out from the rest of the paper there is a full page ad on its own paper that sticks to the comics. At first I just thought it was a coincidence that the ad stuck to the comics, but as it has happened week after week, I’ve realized it is done on purpose and I have no doubt that the newspaper knows this and charges extra money.

The company that does this ad each week sells mattresses. Until this point in time, I had no allegiance to any particular mattress company—I simply don’t buy enough mattresses to have an opinion.

However, when it comes time to buy a mattress, I will not be buying from the company whose advertisement I have to peel from the comics each week. Why? Because the frustration of having to deal with that each week has built up negative feelings toward the company.

Along those lines are the car companies whose ads go something like this:

“Our boss has challenged us to sell more cars than the dealership over in Anytown, USA! Come on in to help us reach our goal!”

This scares the daylights out of me. Why would I want to go there? So I have to deal with a high pressure salesman who is trying to hit a goal so he can look good for his boss?

I think the first lesson taught to advertising companies should be, “Don’t cheese off the people you are trying to sell to.”

Or maybe that’s just me.