Dancing rears its ugly head again

Back in 2014 we talked about how dancing was the fad of the moment. You drank or ate something and started to dance.

There was no reason for the dancing – it just was. Somehow as a viewer you were meant to understand that the dancing was good and that the item you drank or ate made you dance and therefore better. A strange concept. And its been repeated over and over in many a campaign over the years. It really has no place in advertising as an idea though – I’m willing to bet no-one can prove that potential customers have had their lives improved through dancing after buying and eating or drinking something. Nor will there be any marketers able to point at sales and say ‘hey, that dancing ad made our sales go ballistic.’

Here we are in 2017 and dancing is back on the screens again. This time it’s an even greater mental leap the advertiser is asking you to make.

Here the advertiser Sainsbury’s depicts people dancing in kitchens.


Because they’re cooking.

Of course! Everybody does that….don’t they?

What’s that got to do with Sainsbury’s you ask?

Er…um, not sure. Maybe they bought their food from Sainsbury’s?

Of course! They must have done. And food purchased from Sainsbury’s turns your home into a mobile disco. It’s obvious.

This empty, vacuous nonsense will probably get some likes on social media but that’s all. In six months time nobody will be able to convince themselves to dance in their kitchen when they’re cooking because they bought some food from Sainsbury’s.

Why not try a bit harder Mr Sainsburys and your advertising company?

Why should I buy my food from you and not Tesco, Morrisons, Lidl or Asda? What possible benefits do you have for me that would make me walk / drive to you instead of the competition. That’s the start for your next campaign. Find a difference and then convince us that its worth travelling to your store.


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