I’ve just had a press release from Philips about the launch of a new TV. “Philips has teamed up with iconic supermodel Eva Herzigova to celebrate the UK launch of the Aurea TV” it shouts. Oh goody, I reply.
Why do they do this? Does anyone honestly care that they’ve paid some model to link her name to a product, and to make a few appearances in stores?
I’m not a great fan of reality TV, but one possible good side effect is that when absolutely everyone is a celebrity we might move away from being deluged with celebrity news and celebrity magazines and ghostwritten celebrity autobiographies and all the rest.
I don’t want to know that you’ve paid a clotheshorse to be associated with your TV, Philips, I want to know if it’s any good.
End of grumpy old(ish) man moment. In case you want to see what an Aurea is like without a supermodel in sight, it’s rather pretty.
Right then. Let’s make a deal: You take the TV, I take the girl!...
There was an article at Nature the other day about a book on rethoric in science… In technology and engineering it’s even worse. You can never know exacly what are the characteristics of the products. And when you have the chance to talk with someone who knows, he can’t tell you because it’s an industrial secret.
And you also never have the chance to talk to the sueprmodels…
Loved the rant. It’s very true, marketing is more important than the product nowadays. Doesn’t even have to be a good product, just get some snazzy colors, some pretty girls and maybe some chrome on it somehow and you’ve got a seller.
Nicolau, I’d like to read that article. Mind pointing me in the right direction?
Here it is:
The art of persuasion, Steven Shapin
BOOK REVIEWED-The Scientific Literature: A Guided Tour
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v448/n7155/full/448751a.html
I suspect that release is aimed at a certain type of newspaper editor and picture editor that’s more interested in the model’s definition than the TV’s definition…
The model wouldn’t require much definition, as she has a rather curvy and smooth profile. :)
Now, if you think about it, the same thing happens to cars. The ads never talk about the car itself, but show it surrounded by gorgeus ladies.
This all reminds me a commentary I saw once. An enquiry showed that the majority of people watching TV (in USA at least) are older people. They watch more and all the time. But on the other hand, the vast majority of ads are directed to younger teen-adults full of money and of lust for life. This research shows that this population watch much less TV.
So the ads are targeted to a population that doesn’t watch them, while other populations have to stand all this… It’s wrong!... Hopefully digital TV will allow us to ad-sense TV ads one day. Wiki TV now!