Posts by Matthew Poole
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Yes, you can use 'real' people but as I said before most commercials are made with talent.
Oh, of course. And everyone knows it (I hope). But the fact that ordinary industry practice is to use talent doesn't mean that nobody does otherwise.
Most ads don't pretend to portray "real" people, in the sense that you don't watch them and think that you're getting a look at someone's life. That's part of the reason people are offended over the McCallum ad, because its portrayal was as an insight into real people doing real things. Ads that take that approach are few and far-between. Look at the fire safety ads as another example. They're real fire service personnel giving a message. They may or may not having acting experience, though I doubt it, but they're unquestionably actual fire fighters. The one who's a Chief Fire Officer is easily checked out through the NZFS web site, as all stations are listed along with the CFO/DCFO.Don't discount large organisations' willingness to go through the extra hurdles of getting their own personnel involved, because the impact of the ads is much greater. I mostly ignore ads, but I know immediately that I have seen the Scotsman ad for ANZ. I know fairly well how it goes, too. That's a rare ad for me, most of them have to be shown to me or described in great detail before I can recall if I have or haven't seen them never mind remember how they go.
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So, you've made a commercial, Matthew?
No, only acted with many people who have been in them. And I flat with a guy who was dancing talent in one that showed in the US, having never been in front of a TV camera before. So I know that it's entirely possible to take people who have minimal polish and turn them into something that can be used in a matter of days.
I'm not doubting the relative scarcity of people who can actually come across well in front of a camera, but you're making out that there's simply no possible way that they could be using real people. Remember, we're talking about a very large bank with a very large advertising budget. Finding a handful of staff and customers to be in ads is easily within their capabilities.
Also, as I observed above, they've done it before. ANZ uses its own staff in adverts. I know that for absolute certain from a friend who used to work for them. So if they can find staff, why is it so impossible to believe they can find customers?
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The chances are that they will be talent.
In which case, ANZ could find themselves on the end of a BSA and/or Fair Trading Act complaint. Deceptive/misleading practices are illegal. Telecom's on very, very thin ice with the McCallum ad, because of how it was presented, and the banks have to deal with an interested regulator as well as the advertising oversight bodies.
It's extraordinarily difficult to find staff who look right and can act and are willing to appear on camera.
That'd be why University of Auckland has so much difficulty finding students to be in the various faculty and university publicity materials, right? Because they are real students, not hired talent. Posed, certainly, and selected for their looks, but nonetheless real students. The problem is easily overcome by making a broadcast approach to all potentially eligible persons asking if any would be interested.
And then multiplying that by two looking for real clients with the same qualities
Hardly. I've only seen the ad with the Scotsman, but it would be easy to find staff who "fit" and then ask them about any particularly memorable stories that would be good from an advertising perspective. Track down the involved customers, see if they also fit, go from there. The bank's marketing people could handle most of that themselves, no need to get the film crews involved until the talent's been found.
The ads aren't terribly complex. They involve looking at the camera and saying some lines. I know that acting's harder than it looks, but it's not that hard. We're talking about a 30-second commercial, not a LotR-length epic.
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Oh, and Craig, while I'm sure you're a considerate smoker, as are most of the handful of them I know, there are plenty of obnoxious smokers out there.
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And when I'm a guest in other people's homes, I either accept their rules or go home if the company and house rules are that objectionable.
I left far earlier than I'd anticipated, largely because of that situation. I know it's their rules, fair enough, but my point was that not all smokers go outside. They weren't even the majority of the people in the room.
I respond extraordinarily badly to rude and downright impertinent harangues from people who don't like what I'm doing in designated smoking areas.
Fair enough. At the time of the law change, though, there were no licensed premises (save for some restaurants) that weren't "designated smoking areas". You could indulge wherever you so desired, pretty much, and there was nothing the majority of the population could do about it. We couldn't ask you to leave, because you weren't doing anything wrong. Instead we suffered in silence, and if it was a meal out we left as quickly as possible after finishing.
Oh, and no matter how politely I ask I'm unlikely to persuade a smoker in public to stub out. If I'm unfortunate enough to be next to one at Christmas in the Park, for example, I have to like it or lump it. So please don't pretend that smokers cannot get in my face if I ask them nicely, because that's simply not true.
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And do I doubt they are real people in the ANZ ads? Yes, I doubt it very much... you just don't find crazy talent like that in your customer base.
Oh, come on. A handful out of people out of hundreds-of-thousands isn't exactly impossible. Statistically it's almost a certainty that you'll be able to find a few people who are your customers and can be presented to a camera, when that's your sample. It's not like they have a hundred customers and found six or seven who can be used for adverts, they've got a noteworthy percentage of the population to utilise. All the major banks have enough customers to be assured of finding some who can be used for advertising purposes.
They used actual staff and customers for their '03 campaign, according to this press release, so why not do it again? The impression given is very much one of it being real staff and customers, and they've done it before.
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It's funny how anecdata can give you entirely different impressions of the same issue. My observation is that most of them have been shamed into submission by the vigilantes shouting 'unclean! unclean!' They're all shivering outside at any social gathering, in their dedicated leper colonies...
Depends enormously on the smoker. I was unfortunate enough to be at a party last weekend where a hardy (thoughtful?) few went outside while the rest sat in the lounge and puffed away.
And my observation was based on the reaction to the banning of smoking in licensed establishments. Smoker after smoker wailing about how their "rights" were being infringed by being ordered to respect the right of the majority of the population to breathe clean air. Things have changed somewhat since then, and I suspect that law change was a significant factor, but by no means are all smokers now considerate and thoughtful and willing to keep their fumes away from the non-smokers. -
Why doesn't everyone get all activist and scapegoaty about petrol fumes, incidentally?
Oh, I do get right fucked-off when I'm following a vintage Stagecoach bus up Symonds St on my bicycle, or overtaking it, assuming I can get enough oxygen through the clouds of diesel smoke. There's certainly not much green about a lot of the bus fleet in Auckland, and plenty of people do pass comment on it. I'd be quite happy if a condition of keeping their access to the valuable routes was mandatory minimum-age requirements for the fleet. I swear some of the buses are older than I am!
As for the smoking thing, yes I probably have missed past threads on the topic. I'm quite happy to leave it alone, but was simply pointing out that for all the bleating that smokers do about their "rights" many of them are perfectly happy to make sure that everyone around them must share their habit regardless of whether or not they want to.
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peoples' rights to do what they wish to their bodies, as long as they aren't affecting other people adversely
Two words (or three, depending upon one's particular brand of pedantry): Second-hand smoke.
I will acknowledge your right to smoke at such a time as you can do it in my presence entirely without me having to be subjected to your pollutant by-products. My right to clean air trumps your right to abuse your body.
Until that time, I reserve the right to demand that you go outside, or be forbidden to smoke in my presence when in public. And since my fresh-air habit doesn't demonstrably lead to expensive health problems I win :) -
And those BNZ ads with the stereotypes, Asian haircut guy, Scottish dad etc, are cleeeearly fake
I think you mean ANZ, and I wouldn't be too quick to judge on that. ANZ take pride in using actual staff in their ads, so I'd hesitate to assume that they don't use real customers too.