Last time I picked on a “local” advertiser, that advertiser found me and we had a nice little chat in the comments section.  A few people asked if that meant I was going to stop doing that and my reply was, “hell no!”  One, it means people are reading this thing and two, that’s the idea… I want them to know.

With that in mind, I bring you the next edition of Local Lame Ad Spotlight from Horizon Air and Mammoth Mountain.

Mammoth and Horizon Air

I actually have to give these guys a little credit for what starts off as a somewhat clever idea. The whole thing with the “birds of Mammoth Mountain” thing is a funny start and so is the first example of the “yellow bellied piper”.  Then something goes really wrong with this ad in a hurry. Actually, let me be specific, the “winged cougar” joke is the only problem with this ad.  After that joke, they go back to actual flying things (a Horizon jet) and the theme is kept in check.

For starters, the cougar jokes are effed out. They just are and we all need to move on.  Second, what possessed the writer to think that was even funny.  He had a great line of things going with “yellow bellied piper” because that actually sounds like a bird, but a “winged cougar” just sounds weird… like it was forced on him or something.  Honestly, it feels like his boss read the original copy and said, “put a joke about cougars in there, it will be funny” and he was powerless to resist the suggest lest he have keep working and skip the pub that night.

Horizon and Mammoth, I know you’ve got it in you to create great ads. You were right there with this one and then you let yourself wander off track.  Sure, you probably got a laugh out of everybody when you presented it, but they you should have looked at it again and said, “wait, that actually doesn’t work as well as it could…”  All it would have taken was another bird reference and this ad would have been solid, I promise.

I’ve said this before, but seriously, copy writing and making ads is your damn job.  It’s what you do for a living.  Sure, you can make arguments about how “you’re not what you do for a living,” but that doesn’t mean you can half ass it all the time and think you’re going to go somewhere.

Damn, now you made me sound like my dad and that just pisses me off more.  I hope you’re happy with yourselves.

J.

Related posts you might enjoy:

1. Local Lame Ad Spotlight: Leeds has a Thing for Queens
2. I Hope Someone is Playing a Joke on domu.com