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Off with their heads

While we generally prefer to write about good advertising campaigns here at StopPress, we’re happy to give the bad ones a prod from time to time, whether it’s for blatant rugby bandwagon jumping or cringey beach cricket. So here are a few that have got our goats recently. 

While fancy ad folk talk about creating ads that people actually enjoy rather than annoying them, the vast majority of ads are still in the latter category. And, as Lilly from Big Save has shown, yelling still seems to work. But 2cheap cars has taken that too far by getting a young girl to yell at viewers. As Hillary Souter said on MediaWatch, the ASA tends to get more complaints when ads feature children behaving badly, so let them rain down for this one. 

Youi Insurance has done a pretty good job of growing awareness since it launched in New Zealand last year. Its ads, which are made in-house, feature actor Todd Emerson (who portrays the character Bilkey in Outrageous Fortune prequel Westside) calling out competing insurance companies for inflating premiums by not asking customers enough questions. And its latest NZ-specific effort takes a trip to Queenstown to talk to actual customers. But its ads featuring drivers singing along to what experts suggest is the worst song ever written deserve to be put in the advertising equivalent of a car crusher. 

Speaking of terrible music, Whitcoulls also makes our naughty list for its Christmas ad, which unfortunately (or, depending on your view, fortunately) can’t be found online, but features staff members in Santa hats singing about the company’s range to the tune of a Christmas carol. John Lewis it ain’t. 

And for all those hoping to see what the normals think about this industry’s output, set your clocks for next week when the Fair Go Ad Awards once again announce the best and worst ads of the year. 

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