Annoying ads can be effective

I was on Yahoo Groups earlier, and was once again assaulted by one of those dancing silhouette ads. Yeah, you know exactly what I'm talking about - either some goof in a suit shaking his ass, the 2 cowboys performing some sort of brokeback line dance, or the morons dancing on the rooftops. After seeing too many of these things, I decided to consult the Internets to see if I was just being a crabby old man, or if others were as sick of these things as I am.

On a blog called MyOpenWallet, visitor "J.D." added his comments to a post about the ads: "I hate these ads. I intentionally avert my eyes so that I do not know who runs them."

That's funny, because that's what I do, too. I wouldn NEVER buy anything these ads are selling. Just like I won't buy anything from Southwest Kia or Southwest Hyundai ("we wanna see ya in a Southwest Kia!"). Yeah - local TV ad featuring Bill Dickason (great name for a car salesman), where they promise "if you can find a better deal in Texas, I'll just give it to ya!" WTF does THAT mean?

But I digress. Back to hating these silhouette ads. Another quote:

The lowermybills dancing ads are the most ANNOYING ads ever made. Yes, I now know the company but I HATE them -- would never, EVER think of using them.

Note the quote. Yes, we know the companies now (because they're SO damned aggravating), but we would never think of buying from them. So what's the purpose of effective advertising? I'd say it's getting people to buy your product. Want some insight to the geniuses that devised these things?

Coffin said the ads were done in-house, not by an ad firm. As for the many blog-posters that don't see a connection between boot-scooting cowboys and mortgage quotes, "All the dancing you see is really a celebration of saving money," Coffin said. "At least that's how we see it."

Right.