Abba Zabba

There's a weird trend in advertising right now. Companies are starting to show ads about people being upset with their ads. And I hate it.

Geico has been doing this for a while. At first, they had the "So easy a caveman could do it" ads. Then they started having ads where the cavemen were upset at the insult. Now I see the caveman ads all the time, which have nothing to do with Geico's product. They're just a bunch of cavemen (on a TV talk show, at a party, etc.) complaining about how Geico insulted them.

Now Rolling Rock has started the same kind of ads. The CEO of Rolling Rock sits behind a desk and describes a recent offensive Rolling Rock ad. (I've never seen any of the "offensive" ads, just the apologies.) Then he apologizes for the offensive content, and says he hopes people won't stop drinking Rolling Rock because of it.

As far as I can tell, there's only one reason for these ads: To make consumers feel stupid complaining about ads. Let's say that Geico's next ad campaign shows a bunch of bad Asian drivers crashing into each other. Then Asian-American groups protest the ad, as interest groups often protest offensive ads. Everyone will laugh at them for being just like those wacky Geico cavemen!

These ads aren't about selling the product. The Geico ads barely even mention what Geico does, and the Rolling Rock ads aren't much better. The ads are about protecting the ad industry. And that's just bizarre.