Another “Old TV” employee, a young girl, can be found inserting her finger into a woman’s ear. Another kid at a shopping mall gives a wedgie to a man, with the man pleading: “Please.. my pastor shops here!”
“It’s time to say goodbye to the way TV used to be,” says the Sling TV announcer. Sling TV is offering its deal at $20 a month with no long-term contracts. The kicker: “Take Back TV.”
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Three spots of different lengths offer up the same point: Rough up adult TV consumers because they are uneducated, and probably deserve it.
What message are you supposed to take from these spots? Perhaps if you do charge and/or rough up adult TV consumers enough, they might look for alternatives -- like Sling TV? Not sure that connection is made here.
The ironic part of this -- and left out of the advertising/messaging -- is that Sling TV is owned by Dish TV, which has been a part of the problem. Dish offers long contracts, big rental fees for in-home equipment, high overall prices, and many TV channels that no one needs or wants -- stuff the Sling TV TV spots alludes to.
Down the road, the likes of Comcast and Dish Network and no doubt others will continue to offer up “alternatives” to high-paying packages from “old TV.”
Will these new branding efforts work? Sling TV prominently displays in its on-air messages “$20 a month with no long term contracts.” That is a simple good start. But what is the collateral damage when consumers really figure out what’s going on?