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20 Dec 2010
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Vee haf ways of making you buy our motozykles!
My apols if this has been aired before ,but I'm beginning to think that BMW are a bunch of shysters .I thought subliminal advertising was banned .
Bad form BMW !
YouTube - BMW - Flash Projection / Paper-Plane.fr
Verry Schneaky !
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20 Dec 2010
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Is it subliminal if the logo is clearly visible to the audience, which it is when they close their eyes?
Surely subliminal would be a case of having "suggested" BMW using hidden metaphors, images etc leaving the audiences no consciously wiser to having been exposed to it?
Sneaky? Sure, perhaps a little; but no worse than oodles of product placement in all the major films IMO...
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20 Dec 2010
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Well, that's pretty disgusting really.
Even more dangerous to your well-being than riding a motorcycle is looking straight at the sun. You can be, and people are, blinded or have their sight seriously impared by doing that.
And it's the first line of the clip!
Don't know about cinema advertising but this is certainly banned in the UK on television. There, it's defined as showing an image for only one interlace scan of a single frame. Or maybe a whole frame as well. This idea probably wouldn't work on TV as there's no direct control over the brightness of the image.
I was never an astonished fan of BMW, even less of one now.
But the appearance of this thread is a strange coincidence.
I'll be posting up later today on my little blog (below) an account of how to look at the sun properly.......
(Through No. 14 welding glass)
And I'm also in discussion with the ASA and a private healthcare company about a particular ad. I'll chuck this one in as well.
Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
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21 Dec 2010
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Warthog
Is it subliminal if the logo is clearly visible to the audience, which it is when they close their eyes?
Surely subliminal would be a case of having "suggested" BMW using hidden metaphors, images etc leaving the audiences no consciously wiser to having been exposed to it?
Sneaky? Sure, perhaps a little; but no worse than oodles of product placement in all the major films IMO...
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Maybe sublimal was the wrong word to use , but the audience were subjected to it and no element of choice was involved .
Light that bright has the potential to cause harm and should not be used on unwitting participants .It's a cheap trick and nothing more .
Reuben Xaus also did not come to prominence riding BMWs .
The whole ad is a sham and BMW should be ashamed of themselves .
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Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."
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21 Dec 2010
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dodger
Maybe sublimal was the wrong word to use , but the audience were subjected to it and no element of choice was involved .
Light that bright has the potential to cause harm and should not be used on unwitting participants .It's a cheap trick and nothing more .
Reuben Xaus also did not come to prominence riding BMWs .
The whole ad is a sham and BMW should be ashamed of themselves .
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I think we've been here before (the forum I mean): most, if not all marketing is a sham, a fake, a scam, and a cheap, albeit expensive, trick. BMW are no better no worse than anyone else IMO: I do my best to ignore the guff on TV, the mags, the billboards, the internet... We turn the sound off when the ads come on: it really shows them to be so daft without scripts!
As for the danger: I would moot that strobbing is more of a risk given that it can induce epileptic fits in the susceptible. But that happens all the time, admittedly with warnings before hand.
This flash was likened to a camera flash: the reference to the sun was to illustrate how images leave a residual in the visual cortex: the effect is the same if you look at a 40W bulb for a couple of seconds, just not as acute. Any flash produced in that auditorium would not cause any permanent damage: if that were a risk it simply would not be permitted by BMW's legal counsel at the very least.
At the end of the day, I agree the ad was crap. I was not impressed by the ad, visual trickery or not: it was a load of pap designed to massage a load of untoned male egos. 
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Last edited by Warthog; 1 Jan 2011 at 23:32.
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25 Dec 2010
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I personally think it's brilliant. No worse than having your picture taken. If it was bad for you then every camera mfg on the planet would be subject to litigation, not to mention BMW with this commercial.
It is not sneaky, it is not subliminal, it just takes advertising to a new level. The wording in the dialogue make it obvious. Our own impulses with subliminal messaging like the smiling fools in perfect situations that are featured in print are far worse that this as they make you fee that if you buy a product you will be like the featured subjects.
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1 Jan 2011
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Warthog
I think we've been here before (the forum I mean): most, if not all marketing is a sham, a fake, a scam, and a cheap, albeit expensive, trick.
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I agree that the opening words in that BMW ad are stupid and dangerous, though the flash text probably isn't too harmful - but to suggest that all ads are a scam is a bit silly. Talented people put them together and there is an important creative process going on. Lots of your favourite films were made by people who cut their teeth on TV adverts.
Most TV ads are just a bit poor, due to massively reduced budgets - and, as you say, you can always turn the sound down or look away. We tend to record stuff on sky+ and FFW thru the ads. Every now and then something catches our eye and we watch it. Oh, and the ads pay for the programme making, so they're an integral part of the viewing experience.
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1 Jan 2011
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tima
I agree that the opening words in that BMW ad are stupid and dangerous, though the flash text probably isn't too harmful - but to suggest that all ads are a scam is a bit silly.
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I never said that those that produce them are not clever, nor accomplished. I never suggested that they should be banned.
Indeed some adverts are very entertaining and funny. That doesn't mean what they suggest their product will do for you is not an exaggeration at the least.
As for calling them a scam. A scam can also be defined as a confidence trick. It is to offer something that can't or won't be fully delivered. From that perspective I think advertising is exactly that.
I can't remember the last time I had a product deliver what they suggested in its adverts.
If you don't share that point of view, that is fine by me...
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2 Jan 2011
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Warthog
I never said that those that produce them are not clever, nor accomplished. I never suggested that they should be banned.
Indeed some adverts are very entertaining and funny. That doesn't mean what they suggest their product will do for you is not an exaggeration at the least.
As for calling them a scam. A scam can also be defined as a confidence trick. It is to offer something that can't or won't be fully delivered. From that perspective I think advertising is exactly that.
I can't remember the last time I had a product deliver what they suggested in its adverts.
If you don't share that point of view, that is fine by me...
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ASA - Advertising Standards Authority
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2 Jan 2011
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tima
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Thank you for that link. However, the existance of a watchdog does not automatically mean the effectiveness of that watchdog.
I had a cursory look at the codes on exaggeration and it seems to me that this Authority seems to apply a degree of flexibility to the simple, unambiguous guidelines listed.
Seems to me that the ASA (which only applies to UK aired ads, I believe) will only come in if blatantly exaggerated claims are made.
My point is that ad exaggeration is not always blatant, but is still there.
You pick any advert you like and then you ask yourself: what are they suggesting about the product and is this true to life? I do and in general the answer has been no: they are not realistic. - When you drive you car, the streets are never empty to be your urban playground.
- When you wash your hair with a given shampoo, you do not have a mirror-like finish that has everyone's head turning .
- When you have a cold, a lemquick will not restore you to full vitality and energy, sweeping aside every speck of phlegm and mucus
- When you buy a motorbike you will not be as free as a bird.
- When you drink that particular beverage you will not suddenly be a social success.
Then there are the "scientific" ads based on surveys of 100 people out of a potential customer base of millions....
You get the picture...
I can't remember the last time an advert, selling a product, that left me thinking "well, that is exactly the experience I have had of that product".
Now if my views have struck a nerve for whatever reason, well I'm very sorry, but these are my views based on my experience as a consumer... Consumers being the very people ads are designed to target.
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