Look at the ad below:

What was it again? Something about meeting some thug-looking guys and a friendly old man on the side of the road… Oh, wait a minute, it’s something about Ford’s patrol men. Now it’s all clear. (sic!)

But letting the tongue in cheek tone, this ad’s concept just doesn’t work. First we have the non-compelling question “Who do you want to meet on the side of the road?” My natural and instinctive answer would be “Nobody”. But seriously, what impact can such a question have?

The things go even worse when the guys show up in something that I would call deffective and pointless interactivity. I’m talking about the blue arrows and the switching motion they produce. What’s the point in switching heads and bodies? Does that add to the message? Does it strenghten the Ford brand? Is that a way for the users to get more information? Is it at least funny? The answer to all these questions is “No”.

Further! Eventually, after struggling with the lack of logic of this game, two looong messages appear and disappear quickly so that it’s almost impossible to get the message. What’s free? 12 month? Who? Ford? Patrol men?! Oh, the road assistance?

Oh, dear…

This entry was posted on Friday, January 16th, 2009 at 7:42 am and is filed under Examples. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.