There have always been obnoxious ads. One of the great inventions of the 20^th century, up there with the polio vaccine, integrated circuitry and Teflon, is the TV remote.  It’s the single greatest weapon against bad advertising. I wear out the batteries in mine killing off ads. Lately, it’s gotten a workout against a new nemesis:

The Samsung Spider.

The spot shows a typical business lunch until the phone on the nicely placeset table rings and lights up to reveal a tararntula screen wallpaper. The woman at the table leaps from the table screaming a high pitched wail that deafens babies, starts dogs barking across America and probably creates fertility issues. Her colleague leaps to action removing his shoe and begins to whack the thunder out of the Spider-Phone.  (Cue Homer Simpson singing “spider-phone, spider-phone…”)

I guess there is a reason that would make a company beat the tar out of its product beyond John Cameron Swayze telling viewers that Timex takes a licking and keeps on ticking, but in this case I don’t think so. By the time the phone rings and the big bug appears, I’ve hit the remote and am off in search of another phone that doesn’t need hammering.

Advertising lesson – breakthrough creative doesn’t become so obnoxious that it makes people change the channel after they’ve seen the spot twice.

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