It seems that more and more people are simply not paying attention to commercials or advertisements in today’s world. Advertisers need to become creative in the ways they portray a product to grab the audience’s attention, and Dirt Devil’s The Exorcist advertisement does just that. I rarely read forwarded emails, but this one about an ad that “you will NEVER guess what it is about” seemed to catch my attention.
As you start to watch the advertisement, it almost seems like a preview to a scary movie. It is late in the night when a priest arrives to a big, haunted house. The nervous mother of the house lets the priest in, while the father sits at the kitchen table anxiously praying while a clock ticks in the background. The suspense continues to build as the priest slowly walks to an upstairs bedroom while screams echo throughout the hallway. The music heightens and, if you are like me and hate scary movies, your heart begins to race as the priest kisses his cross, grabs the doorknob, and carefully enters the bedroom. At first glance, the bed is empty and Bible pages flip uncontrollably from the cold breeze. It is then that the priest looks up to find a girl suctioned to the ceiling, the door slams behind him, and lights flicker as the child screams. Then, the camera shows the contradicting lighthearted scene above the girl’s bedroom: an elderly lady happily vacuuming her living room with a Dirt Devil. Every time the elderly lady moves the vacuum it moves the “devil girl” below her until the vacuum is unplugged and you can hear the “thud” noise of the girl falling.
This advertisement continuously keeps the audience’s attention, and makes them wonder why the priest was called into the house and what was going to happen next. It made me realize that ads are not always what they seem and there are many creative ways to portray a product. Although this advertisement was unusually long and could be seen as overdramatic, it kept my interest all the way through.
That is brilliant - what an awesome ad. Thanks for sharing. I plan to blog about this one myself!
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