HAVING

worked for a number of years in an advertising agency, I take an inordinate interest in TV and radio ads. We are surely in a trough at the moment. One ad portrays women as stupid drivers who insist their car is a human called Gary, and to temporarily replace it would be akin to adultery. The current Guinness TV ad reinforces a belief we long held in nearby Ballyfermot: you’ll only get a job in the brewery if your father or grandfather worked there! Laugh, I nearly choked on my craft beer. But I don’t laugh when I see the current TV ad for a leading paint brand. It ends with a poor unfortunate being covered in litres of the toxic product from the head down. If this happened in real life, an ambulance and the gardaí would have to be called. Overall, the level of creativity in ad agencies does not paint a pretty picture.