ASK Musings

No matter where you go, there you are.

Daily Archive: 20/03/2008

Thursday

20

March 2008

0

COMMENTS

Please. Stop

Written by , Posted in Random

Dear Ad Company Handling Dunkin’ Donuts:


Please Stop.


Stop. Please. I get what you’re going for. It may even be working, with some people. But it’s really annoying, and false. You’re going for this all-american, nutrition-be-damned, just feel good and eat crap demographic. And clearly, it is a large demographic. Intelligence is uncool; lowest common denominator is awesome. Starbucks is snobby; Dunkin’ Donuts is AMERICAN.


Except? It’s not. It’s really quite icky. And a bit condescending.


What bothers me at the moment is the latest ad campaign, picking on the fact that Starbucks uses those pretentious venti / grande labels for their sizes. And I fully admit that they are silly, but they are also a branding thing. The words we use for most coffee drinks originate in other languages; they extended it to the sizes. Not sure if I would go for it, and it certainly also panders to a type. But there’s some thought behind it.


As opposed to what we have at Dunkin’ Donuts. They’ve built a campaign around how silly it is that one has to order in ‘another language’ at other places, but not at Dunkin’ Donuts. Order in AMERICAN, damn it. Except Latte?  The drink you specifically mention in the ads? That’s from Italian for ‘milk’. It’s like no one bothered to think it through. You still have to order in another language, even at Dunkin’ Donuts. So really, its irrelevant.


Also? America doesn’t run on Dunkin’. America’s collective BMI increases on Dunkin’. America’s blood pressure and cholesterol runs on Dunkin’.


So . . . 


Please.  Stop.