About "Fire That Agency!"

by Katrocket from Rocketradio

Like many of us, I spend way too much time consuming media, and it comes at a high price: the constant assault of ridiculous marketing messages. Whenever I see a really stupid TV commercial or print ad that fails on every possible level, I've been known to yell "Fire that agency!!!" at my television, because the agencies that make these crappy ads probably shouldn't be in business.

We've all seen advertisements that absolutely ENRAGE us, whether it be by sheer annoyance of the actor(s) involved, mind-numbing repetition, or by insulting our intelligence. I have worked in advertising for a long time, and I've attended countless creative briefings, brainstorming meetings, casting sessions, and production shoots with the self-congratulatory idiots who actually come up with these stupid ideas. Most of the time, they high-five each other and think they've just paved a new road to Awesometown. But so many ad agencies fail miserably at promoting products that no one needs or cares about, treat the general public like a bunch of 5th graders (okay, maybe it's deserved sometimes), and annoy the living hell out of us. I've worked on some campaigns myself where I clearly remember thinking: Our client should totally fire us for making this piece of shit and convincing them it's brilliant.

So I'm starting this blog about the best and worst commercials on TV, radio, the web and in print, and I extend an invitation to all of you to send in your own reviews or suggestions.

We're not interested in discussing the moral or global economic impact of corporate consumerism - that's what Adbusters is for. We are here for pure comedy. Advertising is inescapable, so we might as well have some fun with it.

If you'd like to contribute a post, share a link, or suggest a most heinous or hilarious ad for a story, send an e-mail to firethatagency@gmail.com ... and if you add us to your blogroll, we'll gladly return the favour.