I'm at a desk

Recently, my former boss Lee Clow was quoted as saying that 95% of advertising is pure shit. I have to respectfully disagree. I put the number closer to 99%. It is shockingly shitty. Especially when it shouldn't be.

Almost every commercial you see on television has successfully run a formidable gamut of client scrutiny, lengthy committee approvals and the finest focus group testing/marketing analytics wasted marketing dollars can buy.

And yet we have this...

In what world does the Glade Lady live?

Yes, she's sexy in a Stepfordian way.

And yes, she is quick with the snappy retort,

"It's French, you know from France."

But she is such a non dimensional non-entity who feels

compelled to lie to her friends about her choice of air freshener!

What's more, the creators of this monumental crap

make no bones about passing this off as

some type of reality, with not a hint of ironic acknowledgement.

Just look how pleased she is with herself in the last snippet

of the commercial. I can say without hesitation, there

isn't a $6.99 product on any shelf at any supermarket

that could put that kind of smile on my face.

Well, maybe a pint of Jack Daniels.

That is not to say however that characters living in

other worlds cannot make for

effective, memorable advertising.

99% of advertising is shit. Here's the 1% that's not: