Truth in Advertising?

Perhaps it is because I come from a culture where advertising pervades every aspect of waking life and which wouldn't surprise me if paid product placements would start appearing in our dreams, but I give some extra attention and curiosity to the advertising in Finland. I've noticed that Finnish advertising tends to lean towards a more straightforward and clean style than much of the aggressive in your face advertisements in the US. This is not to say that both countries don't have their own respective loads of crap, but overall I think the softer sell and elegant design is more attractive. However, I wasn't prepared for a new trend of blatant truth in advertising lately. It's refreshing, yet disturbing since it goes against all the usual rules of the advertising grift.

The ad above is from last weeks Nyt Magazine which is attempting to recruit young engineering students with "Sex can wait...". Never mind that the guy is dressed like a 1970s fashion disaster complete with afro and seriously tragic rainbow shades, is telling young nerds the truth that their chances of getting laid are so slim that years of toiling for an engineering degree is a far better option a successful sales ploy? I mean, I've spent my life around these sorts of guys who at the mere mention of the word boobies go completely quiet. Sure, sex can wait, but getting an engineering degree isn't going to make you dress better, bathe regularly or get you laid, ever. Well, unless you come into some serious cash which, in Finland at least, probably isn't going to happen. So, I think the slogan needs a little tweaking to something more like, "Those who can get laid get MBAs. Those who can't, become engineers. Enroll in our engineering program now!" Sex can sell anything as even the most casual observation of modern advertising will show, but not getting sex as a marketing tactic? It's hilarious, brutally honest and I'd love to see if their enrollment increases. :)

[update: Ignatz sent me the American version of the sex can wait advertising ploy. The billboard is sponsored by the Kansas City Missouri Department of Health. Did I miss the memo that engineering is the new priesthood? Does sex make you stupid? What? The unwritten subtext to this billboard is that KC is much like St. Louis in that the black population live in the post-apocalyptic downtown with an educational system handicap. So, the real message here is something like "We already have enough black crackhead single mothers so dream that you can get into and afford a college education and, while you're at it, keep your dick in your pants." Of course, studies show that kids who participate in these 'just say no to sex until marriage' campaigns still have sex and often unprotected sex. Maybe the government will start offering scholarships for abstainers through their churches as soon as Dumbya gets a second term.]

The Finnish Army also has a new campaign which has a poster that shows a doctor's Porsche, an engineer's BMW [which still won't get them laid], and a soldier's car that makes a Boston beater Yugo held together with duct tape look good. In the US this ad would be amusing, yet deadly. As the North St. Louis wise old saying goes, "You can sleep in yo' car, but you can't drive yo' house." A more pure or elegant distillation of the American love affair with the automobile would be hard to come by. The US TV commercials for the Marines always show an attractive, beefcake white guy wrestling with some demonic enemy in a video game style of unreality. Honesty is refreshing but reality has not been a traditional tactic in military recruitment. The classic "Uncle Sam Wants You" poster is brief for a reason since finishing the sentence would leave less to the imagination and the power of your mind to see what it wants to see. I wonder what happens to the engineering student who graduates and goes into the Army. Well, I guess if they're not getting laid, a sexy car won't seem so important.

[update: Jarkko has informed me that I have been had. :) I did wonder about the kil.fi domainname but considering Helsinki is hel.fi and Finland hasn't deployed armed forces outside of Finland, I didn't give it more than a passing thought. It is, apparently, a parody of mil.fi attempting to dissuade people from joining up. I suppose I should feel a bit better that it took him a little while to catch on to the joke. :) So much for my optimisim about truth in advertising.]

I'll hope to see this trend continue into the fashion and cosmetics industries where reality is in cryogenic suspension. And what about those foods that advertise themselves as 100% "organic"? :) That always cracks me up, but maybe that's because I'm a chemist. I don't know that advertising culture could survive a trend towards honesty, but it certainly would be entertaining to see more of it since it is charming and compelling in a field of carefully crafted manipulations of varying levels of integrity.