Police Unions in Quebec are upset about a new TV commercial for KIA. The spot features a female police officer playing tonsil-hockey with a young male in the front seat of sporty little KIA Spectra. Her dispatcher can be heard in the background from her unoccupied patrol car calling her to back to respond to a call.
An article in the Montreal Gazette reported that the complaints were filed on Friday of this week. The question “should this spot be pulled” was asked via an online poll and the responders seems to be split right down the middle.
I recall seeing the ad but did not remember it coming from KIA. Why? Well if you are like me, the instant tires start spinning on a TV commercial the remote is put to good use (or any commercial for that matter). In my mind, all car commercials are the same. None have stood out in a very long time. Does this offened me? No, it is just boring crap.
So, was this an effective 30 second for KIA? I have to assume others remember seeing it. However, I'll bet they had no brand recall with it either. So, if the branding tactic was to stand out with some harmless negative publicity and break through the clutter, it does not seem to be doing exceedingly well there either. Except perhaps in Quebec.
So, why am I even bothering to blog about this non-story other than it is a slow Satuday? Becuase it brings up the same question again. Is that all that brand can hope to achieve these days from a TV spot?
There has to be a better formula, but until then money keeps being wasted on the old broken equasion that is not showing incremental steps towards improvement.
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They are just trying to "spark" some contraversy.. like this blog.. and an article in the gazette or any paper.. looks like it worked..