My favorite ad is kinda old but it is for AT&T. It’s set in a hospital and a patient is waiting to go into surgery and he asks how the surgeon performing his surgery is and the nurse’s response is, “he’s okay,” and the guy about to have surgery is like “excuse me what?” Then the surgeon comes in the room yelling, “Guess who just got reinstated?!” to someone else in the hallway as he walks into the room. He then looks at the patient and says, “well not officially” and then proceeds to ask him “Nervous?” to which he responds, “yeah me too” and then walks out of the room saying “Don’t worry about it. We’ll figure it out.” AT&T then starts talking about how “just okay is not okay” and they are the best network in the country and they have a new 5G network. I like this ad because I think it’s funny and I don’t ever get tired of seeing it.
This ad makes me think of the Huff reading because although it is not really presenting statistics, at the end of the ad AT&T claims to be “America’s best wireless network according to America’s biggest test.” What is America’s biggest test? AT&T is not the only company to do this because somehow every mobile network company is able to claim that they have the best network that you want your phone to be on. Clearly, they are able to manipulate these claims by only advertising certain information. And, the ad ends with AT&T’s slogan, “More for your thing, that’s our thing,” and a picture of an award in the font of this slogan. This is a very generic picture but because there is an award image, it makes you think their claims have more merit than they actually do.
I’ve also noticed that with different cellphone networks. They all seem to claim to be the best in some way in the country using some different test or survey, but how can 5 different companies all be the best? It definitely reminds me of Huff, manipulating statistics or not sharing what their sample size or test actually is just to get the results they want.
I like this ad a lot too, I think it uses humor in a smart way that ultimately addresses the important point that we shouldn’t settle for “just okay”. I also think you bring up an interesting point about being the “most reliable network”. Not every company can claim this, yet they all do. I think it emphasizes the power of statistics and how you can get any result you want based on what information you look at.
I was hoping someone would do a cellular network ad, because you often find they will tell you they are number one in “coverage” or “long distance calls” or something of that nature. But how can so many networks be the best in the same area? This can relate to Huff’s idea of manipulating the statistics to better fit the message they want to get across.
Every network says it’s the best in some way, shape, or form. The most impressive ads are the ones that highlight what makes the company unique, like T-Mobile’s customer service. The main cellular companies are more or less identical, which means that they can and should get especially creative with their advertising to show why they are different.