The advertising industry has strange ways
IWENT to a beachfront café for breakfast the other day and was idly reading the label on the HP sauce bottle as I waited for my poached egg to arrive. It’s an iconic British product with a sketch of the British Houses of Parliament on it (which is where it got the name) and the information that it is the sauce used “by appointment to Her Majesty the queen”. (I also learned that it’s not British. It’s made in Holland.)
I wondered whether her majesty has a similar bottle placed next to her breakfast plate, or if she had it served in the official royal silver sauce boat, complete with matching Georgian silver sauce spoonlet. It’s hard to imagine that dignified lady thumping the bottom of her sauce bottle to get the last blobs out. Or is there an official sauce thumper appointed to the royal household staff ?
The British are very impressed by any product that receives a royal warrant. I think it was the original form of product endorsement that is now so widely used by the advertising industry.
Unfortunately, there are not enough members of royal families to go round, so advertisers try to impress us by telling us about other celebrities who use a product. And when they can’t find a suitable celebrity they put somebody in a white coat, which is almost as good.
The actor in the white coat holds up a tube of something and says: “I recommend this product to all my patients who have itchy bottoms. In fact, I use it myself.”
Why anybody should accept a product recommended by a doctor with an itchy bottom is beyond me, but that’s apparently the way it works. Product endorsement is typical of the strangeness of human behaviour. It seems most people are so unsure of what they like that they’ll buy a product simply because somebody else likes it.
The latest form of endorsement is “as seen on TV”. This is totally illogical. I advertise my product on TV, then place an advertisement in a magazine telling you it’s good because it’s on TV.
Go figure, as they say. I prefer real life endorsement. It happens quite often in this friendly country of ours. I stand in the supermarket queue and watch the customer ahead of me unload her trolley and I ask: “Is that stuff any good?” And if she says it tastes wonderful or it cleans her clothes efficiently, I’ll remember it for next time.
She doesn’t need a white coat to persuade me. She is also likely to be completely honest about it and say: “It’s the same as all the rest, but it’s cheaper.”
That’s better than being on TV.
Last Laugh
A man went into a bar leading a chihuahua. The barman said sternly: “No dogs allowed in this bar, I’m afraid.”
Thinking quickly, the man said: “I’m blind and this is my guide dog.”
The barman snorted indignantly and said: “Come on! Who ever heard of a chihuahua as a guide dog?”
The man put on a shocked expression and said: “What? You mean to tell me they gave me a chihuahua?”