Sri Lankan TV ads: A class of their own...

I do not watch TV for many reasons. The most obvious reason for the most part has simply been a lack of time. However the last couple of weeks has given me plenty of time to be doing things I wouldn't normally do :) I guess watching TV could have been one of them, except finding something interesting enough to watch on our local TV stations proved to be a daunting task. The other reason I do not watch TV is the ads. I cannot voluntarily bare the torture of having to sit through numerous 'retarded' ads, which are annoying to say the least. However thanks to whoever invented the remote control (God bless his soul!), I am spared the agony of having to sit through the spectacle. Unfortunately the only time I am somewhat forced to sit through the talents of the Sri Lankan advertising industry are during cricket matches. Changing channels between overs can be pretty risky, considering the fact that you are already are a ball behind due to the attempted asphyxiation of the 30 sec or so break between overs with multiple ads. Yesterdays SL vs WI match was no different. I was pretty grateful to the SL team for finishing off the match early, especially since I had other commitments that evening and was regretfully going to miss most of the 2nd session. Luckily though the windies put up a dismal performance and the rest is history. This time though i ended up watching a few ads. I had no idea Sri Lankan cement producers were capable of producing such versatile multipurpose cement. One particular cement brand was especially useful at stopping lorries wtih malfunctioning breaks, thus saving the life of an innocent girl just in the nick of time. I couldn't quite figure out what the ad was trying to say. Perhaps it was suggesting that since a bag of its cement could stop a speeding lorry in its tracks, it would similarly add a great deal of power and stability to whatever structure is built using it? Or maybe its something much more bigger than that. I was thinking the government should supply all our bus stands, major highways and junctions with bags of this particular cement brand. (incidentally I seriously cannot recall the name of the brand, so much so for the effectiveness of branding!). Anytime a reckless private bus driver comes along a passerby could just hurl a bag of cement thus saving 100s of lives annually.

Another cement brand was found to be very useful in bearing the weight of 7 elephants one on top of the other! Very impressive indeed! I'm sure that has to be some sort of record, and it might even open up some doors for export to international zoos and circuses. Basically anyone that needs to carry around a couple of elephants would find it most useful.

I am no advertising or marketing expert. In fact I am far less knowledgeable about these things than the typical pvt sector employee. Still most of these ads just don't make any sense. The only purpose they seem to serve is to increase brand awareness. As to whether they genuinely increase the sales of a product is surely debatable. I'm sure it must be pretty difficult to accurately asses the effectiveness of ads. But still, surely our marketing managers must have an ounce of common sense! Most of these ads seem to just provide some sort of cheap entertainment. Others tell very touching stories but as to whether they really sell the product is another issue. The above two ads are just an example. Many have been worse. There have been numerous such ads in the past, which fortunately seemed to have deserted my memory.
However the other side of the story has to be told. There certainly have been very impressive and effective ads. Unfortunately they are far and few in between.