ITT Commercial - Grammar Usage 2

[jsisley]

I've seen an ITT Tech commercial about a woman from Indiana who is going to ITT Tech. It shows her talking with her kids and she is saying how great it is to get this education and how important it is that her kids are seeing her work to better herself, etc. At one point during the ad, she says that her report cards, along with her children's report cards are hung on the refrigerator. She says "I have to prove myself to them just like they have to prove "theirselves" to me..."

ARRRGGGHHHHHH!!!

I just want to call ITT and tell them how foolish this makes the student and ITT sound.

Am I the only one who notices these things? Has anyone else out there seen commercials with grammar misuse this obvious?

 

[SantaMufasa]

Interestingly, if given a clear choice between sub-standard colloquial vernacular and proper English grammar, Madison Avenue and their focus groups generally choose the sub-standard version. Why is this so? Because advertisers (and apparently The Public) do not want advertisers to come across as "superior" to their target audience.

Therefore, we must put up with further "Dumbing Down of America" so that we don't appear "superior" to anyone. Yikes!

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[randy700]

And, it got your attention, which is precisely what a commercial is supposed to do.

Several years ago, I heard a radio commercial advertising some service. I wasn't paying much attention and, near the end, the announcer stated that he would repeat the phone number 3 times.

He then said something like.

1-800-555-6235
1-800-555-6235

And the commercial was over!

It caught my attention enought to call the number, just to see what company had such a clever idea!


Randy

 

[SantaMufasa]

Randy,

Clever "trickeration" in a commercial is, IMO, far different from grammar stupidity. If I hear a grammatical faux pas on a commercial, not only does it get my attention, but I take note of the organization and vow to never purchase their product or service. My reasoning is that if they take such poor care in crafting their commercials, then they would take even less care in crafting their product/service.

It's similar to your seeing a coffee stain on the tray table of a commercial aircraft...If they don't do proper maintenance inside the cabin, then how much maintenance are they overlooking on the outside of the cabin?

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[jsisley]

Mufasa - This is exactly what I thought when I saw the commercial. ITT may be the best at teaching what they teach (however, since their credits do not transfer over, it may be just a high-priced piece of paper you're getting - but that's another topic), but if their student or as she is presented in this case, their spokesperson does not have the ability to use proper grammar, what does that say about the school itself?

JoAnn

 

[SF0751]

I take note of the organization and vow to never purchase their product or service.

I avoid eating at Burger King, because their commericals scare me.

Susan
“Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.
Then, when you criticize them, you are a mile away ...
and you have their shoes.”

 

[Welshbird]

There is an ad on TV currently in the UK for an insurance-comparison website which ,IMHO is incredibly clever.

The company is CompareTheMarket.com and the advert features the 'brains' behind CompareTheMeerkat.com, who is a meerkat called Alexander. He tells us that he can't find us insurance, and we should type the address properly.

Just too too clever I suspect.

Fee

"The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea." Isak Dinesen

 

[SantaMufasa]

the advert features the 'brains' behind CompareTheMeerkat.com, who is a meerkat...

I believe one of our insurance companies has perpetrated wholesale plagiarism of your meerkat...One of our auto-insurance companies is GEICO Insurance, whose "spokesbeast" is a cheeky Gecko (for obvious-confusion purposes)...and he even speaks with an annoying Pottries accent. (He sounds just like one of our family friends from Stoke-on-Trent, and every time the gecko starts talking, my entire family, in unison shouts, "Steve from Stoke!") <grin>

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[AnotherHiggins]

I'm reminded of a one-man crusade I read about a few years ago. Some company - a bottled water company, I think - had a slogan that went something like, "Live extraordinary. Everyday."* Someone exchanged many letters with them trying to get them to change it to "Every day" (two words), explaining to them that 'everyday' means commonplace and makes no sense in their slogan.

*That isn't the actual slogan. I can't remember what it actually was and haven't had any luck Googling.

[tt][blue]-John[/blue][/tt]
[tab][red]The plural of anecdote is not data[/red]

Help us help you. Please read FAQ 181-2886 before posting.

 

[SantaMufasa]

Live extraordinary. Everyday.

And once the lone letter writer achieves his goal of converting &quot;Everyday&quot; to &quot;Every day&quot;, then s/he can start to work on correcting the abuse of the adjective, &quot;extraordinary&quot;, to its correct adverbal sense. The final, corrected advert should read:

Live extraordinarily...Every day.

Once they fix all that, then I'll consider drinking their water. &lt;grin&gt;




Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[Welshbird]

But advertising, like marketing, ha nothing to do with grammar. It never has, and sadly, it never will.

It's much more about rhythm.

I wrote a strap-line for a software product for my company once:

Tomorrow's Technology Today

which I quite liked, and I thought quite correct.

Fee

"The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea." Isak Dinesen

 

[SantaMufasa]

Tomorrow's Technology Today

It's catchy!


I quite like the frank honesty of this software slogan:

Each version is better than the next!

I'd buy the product simply for properly setting my expectations. <grin>


One of my advert pet peeves is hearing some grammatically brainless spokesperson testify:

<Product Name Here> is so unique!

How does being so unique differ from only slightly unique?...Last time I checked, "unique" is simply "unique"...there is no comparative or superlative sense. Saying that something is so unique (or very unique) simply demostrates that the speaker is so very ignorant of good grammar.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[kjv1611]

Of course grammar matters less and less today.

Just think about it. You've got folks carrying on whole conversations like this:

[TAB]Dodo1:AKDJFI
[TAB]Dodo2:KDJKD
[TAB]Dodo1:GJOGKDK
[TAB]Dodo2:SKD
[TAB]Dodo1:FJTIW
[TAB]Dodo2:LAIFJ
[TAB]Dodo1:JGALS
[TAB]Dodo2:LOL
[TAB]Dodo1:LOL
[TAB]Dodo2:LOLMANSIGNDI

Okay, so I totally just typed a bunch of letters, without thinking of what a person would be actually saying. That's about how much of the "text talk" I understand at times. Although, I can pick out enough to get the main idea - I think!

It would seem THAT is the market at large, and therefore good grammar in marketing just doesn't fit the bill any longer. If it makes say 200 people angry b/c of bad grammar, but seems to get another 20,000 people's attention who might buy, then it's a job well done (marketing stand point).

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[gaylec54]

One ad I hear very often on our news/talk station is for a local dentist. Glenn Beck voices the commercial, and in one part he says, "...at Dr. ___'s office, they take you serious...."

That one word grates on my nerves very time I hear it, and I just want to scream, "It's SERIOUSLY!!!!" I can feel myself tensing up every time the ad comes on, and if I'm quick enough, most times I'll turn my radio off until the commercial is over. (Did I mention that I'm a desktop publisher, and words are my life? LOL!)

 

[SantaMufasa]

In virtually every radio market, the pop-music broadcasters love to emphasize how they play the most popular music, so their jingle-speakers love to tout how:

<Radio station call letters> has <local area's> biggest hits.

But as you can imagine, the jingle speakers are totally imprecise in their pronumciation, running the words together, and the message comes out that their station somehow is the local area's most "chestally endowed".

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[GSCaupling]

words are my life? LOL!

If words are your life, wouldn't acronyms shorten it?



GS

[small][navy]**********************^*********************
I always know where people are going to sit. I'm chairvoyant.[/navy][/small]

 

[Michael52x]

The only thing "superior" here lately, is one of the Great Lakes. The way texting has become so popular, young people will not know how to talk correctly.
They dont want to either. It's "gag me with a spoon" all over again! {Dodo's are extinct, you know}

"Impatience will reward you with dissatisfaction" RMS Cosmics'97

 

[Welshbird]

good grammar in marketing just doesn't fit the bill any longer

Just have to have a very small rant. I've worked in marketing for many years. Marketing ISN'T advertising. It is VERY DIFFERENT and usually doesn't include advertising at all.

<rant over>

Sorry. It's a pet peeve of mine.

Fee

"The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea." Isak Dinesen

 

[gaylec54]

@GSCaupling: Sometimes I use acronyms, just to live on the edge! If acronyms did indeed reduce lifespan, there would be many people with very, VERY short lives, due to texting and instant messaging.

 

[jet042]

@gaylec54: According to most teens I know, life ends at 25 anyway, so maybe there is some truth to that.