Mastercard Made Me Nauseous
So my vacation plans ended very early unfortunately and I had to go out of town for the last week or so. It is a very long story and not worth getting into, but lets just say that instead of feeling refreshed and re-energized from a vacation, I am exhausted. Oh well what can you do, I am happy that I am back and back into the swing of things.
During my time away, one evening I was watching some TV and watched for the first time the ESPN original series The Bronx is Burning. If you are a baseball fan, I highly recommend it. John Turturo is truly amazing as Billy Martin. The series is being sponsored by Mastercard which means that during every commercial break, they of course played a Mastercard commercial. Mastercard had one of their “Priceless” commercials with a baseball theme.
What I found interesting at first and then incredibly annoying later is they played the exact same commercial every fricken time! Now it is not a bad commercial, but it gets bad rather quickly when you watch it over and over again. My question is why if Mastercard paid a great deal of money to be the sponsor of this show and they know they will have one of your commercials played at each break, wouldn’t they create more than just one commercial?
It was interesting the night I starting watching this show, ESPN was playing a marathon of all the shows so in a period of three hours I must of saw this damn Mastercard commercial 15 times or more. And I would say right around the eighth or ninth time, Mastercard and this commercial truly made me nauseous. Why or why would they not of created more than one commercial or even if it was a question of available budget, they have like sooooo many of these Priceless commercials why not put more than just the one in the rotation?
I truly learned what the word overexposed means by watching the same Mastercard commercial over and over again. I was so disgusted at Mastercard the next day I was in a store buying a few things when I reached into my wallet and was about to pull out my Mastercard when I decided I was going to have my own little protest and grabbed the Amex instead.
Caught up on a season of The Bronx is Burning – $30 dollar cable bill
Enjoying a few beers while I watched – $20
Wanting to vomit each time the same Mastercard commercial came on – Priceless
Technorati Tags: ESPN, The Bronx is Burning, Mastercard
Hey Cord,
Welcome back.
I remember a lot of these commercials that make you ill. Somehow, over time, I no longer associate the product with the unpleasant repetition. But I remember the product…
Maybe my brain is broken. Or maybe they are on to something.
Glad to see you back…sorry to hear about the exhaustion.
I noticed the Bronx Burning series the other night as well while eating out at one of the local restaurants. The big screen tv hung over the bar had the show playing over and over. Sounds like I should be grateful I was preoccupied and did not notice the repeating commerical. My wife was upset with me watching what little of the show I did see.
The repitition of commercials happens all too often during certain big events on TV and it can make you want to revolt.
The funny thing is the commercials didn’t make me dislike The Bronx is Burning!
Hi Cord,
Repetition is one of the best ways to make a message stick but, like you say, there is a limit!
It is interesting though that sometimes the most annoying ads are the ones you remember. Growing up in the Chicago area, I was bombarded with Empire carpet’s jingle (5-8-8. 2-3 hundred…emPIRE!) All this time it’s stuck with me.
Keeping your experience in mind, this tactic may work best for companies that work in a small niche or companies with a small budget. You expect more from a large company like MasterCard and have other good options (like Visa.)
Welcome back!
“Head-On…Applied directly to the forehead”
You want to talk about being disgusted? The sad thing is everyone now knows about Head-On, Activon, etc. As annoying as those commercials were, they did successfully make the brand stick. Like you; however, I question Mastercard’s theory of ad repetition. Their brand is already a household name, so I wonder if this was an intentional thing. I am an Automotive Advertising Analyst and I can tell you that some ad agencies are in over their head (and don’t even get me started on the Creative Department).
At the end of the day, this decision was probably made by some upper level, creative-type who thought it was a great idea to shove a baseball commercial down the throat of baseball fans.
It’s good to have you back Cord. Thanks for the laugh.
I don’t have anything else useful to add at this point in time.
Good day sir.
Cord: I’ve been enjoying this series, primarily because of my future husband,Daniel Sunjata
Anyway, John Turturro and Oliver Platt has been one of my favorite actors for a long time. When they show the ‘backstory’ after the episode with real footage, it is uncanny how much Turturro looks and acts like Billy.
Also, who knew Billy was a ladies man? That’s been the biggest shocker of this series! I NEVER thought of him as attractive in the least bit.
I thought I was the only one who noticed the stupidity of the MC commercials. I love the Bronx is Burning and yes Turturro and Oliver Platt are incredible in their roles.
Just buy “The Bronx is Burning” on DVD at Best Buy and forget the commercial!!