[Orchids & Onions] Land Rover scores with World Cup ad

For a start, as the Rugby World Cup kicked off this weekend, we had already been flooded with a tsunami of the stuff. And it will continue throughout the tournament as some of the bigger advertisers, such as the SABC and SA Breweries, either have the channels, or the deep pockets, to support the repetition.

© Grzegorz SkaradziÅ?ski – 123RF.com

Why I am slightly conflicted about the advertising is that the calls to patriotism and the portrayal of an entire nation behind the Springboks are falling somewhat flat, given the heated debates about lack of transformation in the national team which have occupied the country for weeks.

Outside the racially charged arguments there are a number of rugby fans - and I am one of them -who are half hoping the Boks get thumped because of the seemingly silly selections. I do acknowledge that this may be sour grapes because none of the incredibly talented and committed Lions players were included, yet a whole clutch of Blue Bulls were. That's another debate, though.

When I watch the SA Breweries and SABC ads, I do think back to the phony Carling Black Label ads of the 1980s and 1990s, where hale and hearty groups of black and white workmen got together after building great dams or rescuing people and sank a chilled beer. The ads always looked slightly Stalinist in the way they portrayed a united, multiracial working class which simply didn't exist in those days.

On the other hand, when you look at the current ads, you feel that the spirit of the Rainbow Nation is not entirely dead... and you feel nostalgic for those days in 1995 when nothing seemed impossible.

So, I am giving those ads neither an Orchid nor an Onion.

Let's see how we feel when the tournament is over. I have a feeling we'll love them if we walk off with the trophy.

However, a rugby-related ad which does tickle my funny bone is one for Land Rover, which is showing on the brand's YouTube channel.

(Not sure if it is booked for television but, if not, please do it, people! We need a bit of humour when it comes to rugby.)

In it we see an anxious wife, waiting for the arrival of her husband, who is clearly absent without leave, probably in a bar with mates. Then the commentary opens, straight from a rugby game, talking about time running out. The defence is resolute (shot of the wife looking grim) as hubby tries to sneak in around the side of the house.

Suddenly, a "referee" appears from inside the house and blows the whistle on the sneak.

"Coming in from the side" and not coming in through "the gate" is, apparently, an offence... I'm a fan, not an expert, okay?

The referee listens in his headphones to the TMO (television match official), who reveals that this husband is a repeat offender. So he gets a yellow card.

It's funny and, even though it's not related to the Land Rover brand directly, it still makes one aware that Land Rover is one of the sponsors of the 2015 RWC.

It also fits in nicely with the brand's other work, where its voice has a quiet, yet quirky, humorous tone.

So an Orchid to Land Rover.

One of the reasons, we like to believe, that newspapers have credibility as sources of information is that there is often (although not always, admittedly) a separation between editorial and advertising.

This sometimes works against advertisers and sometimes for them. When we make up our pages, we often don't know what is going to be advertised on them so, until the page goes into production, we don't know whether the ads will clash with the editorial and neither does the client.

Sadly, for Toyota, that happened last weekend when one of its print ads, for a Corolla special deal, ran on the Sunday Times consumer page - which was all about car recalls for faulty airbags. And one of the brands mentioned was Toyota.

Frankly, the juxtaposition didn't make me concerned about Toyota quality, such is the brand's legendary reputation for longevity.

In that case, Toyota and its media planning and ad agencies had no idea how the material would end up.

But what would you say about a media planner who thinks it is wise to flight an airline ad on DStv's Air Crash Investigation programme? Pretty silly I would say, because viewers - in the midst of carnage of an air crash - would not be in exactly the most receptive mood for an ad which encourages them to climb aboard one of these seemingly fragile conveyances.

So, although I gave Emirates an Orchid recently for its Rugby World Cup ad, I must follow it with an Onion for the media planning which sees it repeated during episodes of Air Crash Investigation.

Not the best environment, people. What were you thinking?

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