Advertising Trends I Hate

From time to time or whenever the mood strikes, I'm going to write about advertising trends that I find offensive. In some cases, these trends will be well recognized and the subject of no small amount of articles in trade journals as well as more mainstream media sources. In other cases, these trends maybe nothing more than random coincidences and - therefore - not really trends at all. My first post falls into the latter category.

In the past year or so, I've noticed any number of TV and radio spots making light of some hapless worker getting fired. The first one I recall involved a man eating cereal and crunching so loud he could not hear his boss firing him. Next came a spot for a well-known purveyor of previously-frozen meat patties in which the previously employed person's dismissal is predicated by a bad breakfast choice. Finally, a maker of a light, presumably refreshing alcoholic beverage shows a member of its marketing team getting axed for pitching poorly designed bottles.

I can only assume the people at the agencies responsible for these ads and the marketing people at the companies who okayed these spots have never been fired. Otherwise, they'd know for many, many people the thought of losing one's livelihood is never, ever a laughing matter.