You are now entering Ad Space, a realm of commercials, brought before us so we might examine how they work, and discuss why we both love and hate them so. So it is written …

The Product:
Northern Tool & Equipment

The Promotion:

The Pitch:
We’re gonna neg you till you start buying our stuff.

It’s rare that I feel genuinely bullied by a commercial.

Sure, a lot of ads take the approach that anyone who doesn’t use their product is stupid, pathetic, or otherwise a loser. The intended response being “I’m not stupid/pathetic/a loser, so I must to need to buy that!”

But this ad, feels like it’s crossing a line. It’s one thing to portray fictional characters in your ad who represent the people who don’t use your product, and making them undesirable caricatures. It’s another to have the commercial just flat out taunt the viewer, telling them directly, “Coochie-coo, baby bottom hands.”

Then again, I’m someone who’s in no way in the market for what Northern Tool & Equipment sells, so they’re not gonna care if their ad offends me. And people who are in the market for their product will likely identify themselves with the people the ad praises, rather than the people it taunts, so … can’t say it’s not effective.