Please, people in ad land, keep making us laugh

Advertising, author George Orwell once wrote, “is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket”.

Yet it is, at the same time, perhaps the most important business tool of the 20th and 21st centuries as well as being one of the forces which has shaped our society. These days, it feels as though Orwell may have been on to something.

Ask yourself: when was the last time you saw an ad which was memorable, which entertained you, which informed you or even which just made you laugh? Exactly.

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In the days of exploding communication media and platforms, why does it seem that life offers, as Bruce Springsteen once sang, “57 channels but nothin’ on…”?

Media guru Chris Moerdyk tells us that it’s because ad agencies today are afraid to take chances. There’s truth in that: people are so easily offended, market researchers so readily point to “the numbers” and brands choose the safe, middle ground.

What we need is more ads like Cremora’s “It’s not inside, it’s on top”, Vodacom’s “Yebo Gogo”, Sasol’s “Glug, glug” or Klipdrift’s “Met eish”…

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Please, people in ad land, keep making us laugh, keep making uniquely South African ads. Keep entertaining.