Have you seen the Google ads of AyosDito.ph?

Here’s a screen capture:

What I like about it is not only the amazingly clear visuals, but also the humor in it. In the ad everything is priced ridiculously low.

Even the bird was not saved…

I love this ad.

I was rummaging through my old backup files when I came across this Pentel ad that I did years ago. I was working for Sterling Paper which was the distributor of Pentel products here in the country.

One day my boss asked me to come up with a simple ad, measuring 2 inches by 10 inches to be published in a major broadsheet. I asked him when would he want a study ad and he said within the day. I was naturally surprised because it was too quick; too short a deadline for a print ad.

He said we were given that free ad space as a bonus for the series of ads that had just published on that newspaper. But the thing was they required that extra ad to be submitted not later than the next day. And so I had no choice. I made use of our existing product images and with the help of Photoshop, I came up with this:

It’s a very simple ad that I was able to finish in less than an hour. But still it was fun doing it given the very rushed deadline.

Is there still honesty in advertisements? I think so, but often these are only half-cooked honesty as these ads still trick the readers. Take a look at this example:

“As low as P3,230/mo.*”

That was written in a big font size and in red to catch attention. And I have no doubt this caught a lot of people’s eyes.

A publicized monthly amortization of only P3,000+ printed right next on a two-story house. Now that’s deceiving if you ask me. But then again the copywriter showed honesty in his work by adding the asterisk. (In the first place, it is outright obvious that the amount stated doesn’t refer to the advertised house. It’s actually for lot buyers only.)

When we notice an asterisk at the end of any claim, we automatically become aware that whatever we are looking at is too good to be true. And they always are because there’s an asterisk.

So there’s still honesty in ads, we just have to look at the asterisk and the fine print that follows.

Sneaky. Very sneaky. I hate a sneaky copy.