“TURD IN THE PUNCHBOWL”
With U.S. economic growth still cooling, advertisers need to be maximizing the “bang” they get out of each “buck” these days – but between declining National Football League ratings and a flood of 2016 election ads, that’s proving increasingly difficult to do.
Now, new research reveals that political ads aren’t just sucking up vital airspace – they may in fact be devaluing the impact of the consumer ads that follow them on television.
According to research from J. Walter Thompson and Forethought, political ads are so unpopular they are actually driving down brand reputation, product value perception and product quality perception for the consumer pitches that follow them.
How bad is it? According to the research, advertising is seen as 32 percent less relevant, 29 percent less entertaining and 27 percent less appealing if it follows a political spot.
Brand reputation also suffers by 34 percent – as does perception of a product’s value (32 percent) and quality (24 percent). Perhaps most significantly, “purchase intent” dropped by 26 percent.
“Basically, anything having to do with a politician – even a positive ad – makes people sick to their stomachs and taints regular ads for regular goods and services,” one veteran national operative told us. “So, the turd in the punchbowl makes people think the wagyu beef canapes taste like crap.”
“If this is true, no way any of these political ads are working,” the operative added.
According to date from Bloomberg, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has already spent $172.8 million on television ads – with another $22.2 million planned over the next two weeks. Priorities USA – a political action committee supporting Clinton’s candidacy – will spend another $18.6 million on her behalf over the next two weeks.
By contrast, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has spent $58.4 million – with $30.6 million budgeted for the homestretch of the race.
(Banner via iStock)