These Ads Are Genuinely Stupid
It Canât Be Just MeâŠÂ
I mean it. I really mean it.
It canât be just me who watches the ads weâre force-fed nowadays and thinks: Who greenlit this garbage? Who seriously sits on a plush boardroom chair, watches one of these âquirkyâ or ârelatableâ monstrosities, and says, âYes. This will convert to sales.Â
This will move people.â Because letâs be honest here it doesnât.
No soul alive watches these new ads and goes, âWow! I must absolutely buy this toothpaste because a guy in a llama costume screamed about it for 15 seconds on YouTube.â
Advertising used to mean something.
It used to have edge, wit, a message. It wasnât just an attempt at virality or some watered-down focus-grouped nonsense trying to tick every demographic box. It was storytelling. It was a craft. It was vision backed by principles.
Bring me back to the golden era bring me back to Chiat/Day.
The Gold Standard: Chiat/Day and Apple
When people talk about advertising that sticks, that moves, that actually sells itâs impossible not to mention Chiat/Day and their revolutionary campaigns for Apple.
Yes, Iâm an Apple fanboy. Proudly so. I donât hide it. Why should I? The "1984" ad didnât just sell a computer it declared a rebellion. The âThink Differentâ campaign didnât shout; it whispered. It respected your intelligence. It reminded you that you werenât just a consumer, you were part of something bigger.
Fast forward to July 2024, and Apple even now can still get it right.
Take their ad âPrivacy on iPhone | Flockâ 19,934,460 views and counting. And it deserves every click.
It didnât rely on a meme. It didnât jump on a YouTube trend. It took a real issue  data privacy, surveillance, digital exploitation and explained it with clarity and style.Â
It showed how weâre being tracked, watched, sliced and diced into ad data like cattle. Then, it delivered a solution, not just a scare: your iPhone keeps that private.
Simple. Clear. Effective. Respectful. Linked below
Todayâs Ads: A Race to the Bottom
Now contrast that with the sludge we get today.
Every second ad is either trying too hard to be funny, or so âinclusiveâ it forgets what itâs actually selling. Itâs like marketers have completely forgotten their job is to sell a product, not to look trendy on Twitter for six hours.
Weâve dumbed everything down. Every product is a punchline, every ad a sketch show. Thereâs no narrative arc. No philosophy. No taste. Just visual vomit, loud colours, fake laughter, and a QR code slapped at the end.
What Happened to Respecting the Viewer?
You know what the best ads used to do?
They treated you like you were smart. Like you had discernment. Like you were capable of understanding nuance and meaning. They didnât scream at you they invited you in.
What weâve got now? Itâs insulting. Itâs like advertising has become just another branch of the short attention span economy.Â
Make it louder, faster, and more chaotic maybe someone will click. But will they buy? Will they care? Will they remember?
No. Because no one remembers what feels like a cheap joke.
The Bottom Line
Itâs not just about selling anymore itâs about soul. Itâs about storytelling. And in an era where every company wants your time, your data, and your money, the least they could do is earn it with dignity and intelligence.
So to all the marketing execs out there:
If you want me to care, if you want me to buy, then give me ads that are more than noise.
Bring back the craft.
Bring back the substance.
And for heavenâs sake, bring back ads that actually respect the viewer.
Appleâs still doing it. Why canât the rest of you?
