In last week’s issue of AdWeek, Scott Johnson wrote an interesting piece, entiled “Lies and Entertainment: Consumers don’t believe you, so bring out the dancing bears”. The idea is that consumers have become so accustomed to advertising that they’re not likely to believe anything an ad says. Thus, it is better to entertain them and make them like you, under the theory that they’re more likely to do business with the company they like.

In all fairness, that’s a bit of an oversimplification of Scott’s argument, but let’s explore that idea anyway. For me personally, it’s a bit of a difficult pill to swallow. I’ve always been a proponent of the “old school” method of getting a consumer’s attention with great graphics and a powerful headline, then methodically showing them why the product is exactly what they need. If they’re not going to believe the ad anyway, that methodology would seem to be wasteful.

On top of that, I actually agree with Scott to some extent. While what an ad says is likely to get me interested in a product, I’m not likely to believe it until I’ve gone online and read reviews of the product by real consumers who’ve actually used it. So, if I don’t believe what most ads say, isn’t it also likely that there are a whole lot of consumers out there who also don’t believe it?

I think some distinctions have to be made. For the most part, people are less likely to believe claims in mass media such as radio and television. Here also, they’re typically using the media to be entertained anyway, so they expect to be entertained. For the smaller business that is not using mass media, the old school approach is probably still valid. Perhaps you’re placing an ad in your local chamber of commerce newsletter. Here, the eye catching graphics, headline and well written sales copy are just the thing you need - especially if the recipients of the newsletter already know and trust you.