The Walking Billboard.

Watching Nadal and Del Potro slug it out, I almost wondered if both men shared a wardrobe. They both wore near identical clothes with the Nike logo splashed on every inch of available real-estate.

I am getting a little tired of this "logo overload". Not a moment goes by when I am not being bombarded by the signage of some company or the other. Sachin's bat, Tigers glove, LeBron's shoes.......

The reason is obvious: Companies think that you will buy a product because your favorite star is using it. It’s the oldest trick in the advertiser's handbook. What the marketers are doing is not so much selling a product as they are an entry into an exclusive club. If you wear Jordan's shoes then he and you will have something in common. Nobody ever pauses to wonder if there might be a cheaper or better alternative in the market.

We are absolutely surrounded by Ads 24/7. There will be times when you will not know that you are seeing/hearing an Ad! Ads are being disguised as news reports, as magazine articles and some as official research papers. You will see Ads in the movies (subtle product placements), Ads in your email (spam) and Ads in your mailbox (junk mail). Ads will target your hidden fears and your insecurities. They will make you buy stuff to make you feel good about yourself, to keep up with the Joneses, to fit in with the "In" crowd. They will make you buy creams to look fair and pills to loose weight.

I recently saw an Ad for a brand of diapers on TV. The mother is being told by the Dr. that her baby has a cold because the cloth diapers she has been using result in the baby staying wet and cold! Can you imagine the guilt that mothers who are watching will feel when they are told that they are not doing the most for their children? It’s been shown that using cloth diapers will mean your child is potty-trained much faster. Also, cloth diapers are way more environmentally friendly than the chemical-filled ones.

It will not be long before everything around us is one big advertisement. You will find Ads on your phone, Ads at the gas station while you wait to fill up. Our kids’ schools will have Ads in the form of sponsorships, books will be subsidized with Ads in the margins....there is no escape.

I see a glimmer of hope in the form of services like Yelp! and other review sites on the internet. That seems like the right way to find products and services: you talk to people who have similar needs/budgets and hear what their experience has been with a particular product.

In the mad rush to rent out every available inch of real-estate to the advertisers, it was refreshing to see two examples where people did not sell out.

Barcelona Football Club is one of the biggest soccer clubs in the world with a world-wide fan following. They could have sold space on their jerseys for millions. Instead their jersey sports the logo of Unicef and they donate almost 2 million dollars per year to Unicef!

Golfer Ryan Moore plays without looking like a walking billboard. He has no logo on his bag, on his shoes or on his hat. It is the most refreshing thing to see! He claims that he wants the freedom to use any product without being tied to a certain brand. He is loosing out on some big money by going the logo-free route. Let’s see how long he can resist the temptation of big bucks.

Here’s a link to a Wikipedia entry that talks about the origins and the history of advertising.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising