Beliefs in the “Goodness” of Technology: Those Talkative Kids in Ads
Have you seen those 30-second ads by AT & T with six year-olds sitting around a table answering questions from an adult about whether more is better than less and whether faster is better than slower?The kids, cute as buttons, answer that faster is better than slower and, of course, more is better than less. If you have not seen the ads, see here and here. They highlight AT&T’s speed and services in a humorous way.
And the ads have been hits, according to market researchers. Ad agency BBDO released the series–called “It’s Not Complicated”–last November and they have soared in ratings as measured by how many times tweets mentioned the ads.
I have watched these ads many times and I finally put my finger on what bothered me about them. What got to me was not that the values of speed and quantity were being reinforced with kids–hey, the first-graders’ responses are cute and you gotta smile when you see a gap-toothed little kid jump up and down in excitement.