Dec

30

A Commentary on the KIA Flashdance Commercial

Filed Under TV 

OK. Here’s the deal. I find the latest KIA Flashdance-inspired car commercial very funny. I laugh (or at least smile) every time I watch it. However, there is such thing as overkill and this commercial is about to meet its demise (at least in my heart).

Why? Well I’ll tell you why.

Here’s the KIA Flashdance Commercial in Question

Now Here’s Why It’s Falling Out of Favor with Me

I was eating a nice meal at a local Orange County Pho restaurant with a friend of mine and we were having a nice time. On the TV was the end of the Patriots game and the typical post-game discussion. Of course there were a number of commercials within the 30 minutes that was the post-game coverage. One of the first commercials was the KIA Flashdance commercial. At this point, I was still very much in favor of this commercial. In fact, it spawned a conversation about it and praise from both my friend and I. The discussion quickly moved on to other less KIA-focused talk but then about 5 minutes later, the KIA Flashdance commercial was back on the TV. I laughed and thought to myself “Oh goodie! It’s on again. Finally a commercial I enjoy watching. Let’s watch again!”. So we watched the commercial again, chuckled, and continued our meal. But then things started to get a bit abnormal. Right as I was about to take a bite of a delicious shrimp spring roll, the KIA Flashdance commercial came on AGAIN! Now this is only about one minute after it played previously. I laughed again, however I was laughing at the absurdity of the media buying agency/company who purchased time during the Patriots post-game coverage. They must have had some extra money to spend and decided to dump a portion of it during the game. Oh well, it’s their money.

NOW This is Where Advertising Gets Absurd

If the story was to end here, I wouldn’t have much to say about this KIA TV commercial. I would have seen it here and there as I randomly surf my TV channels looking for entertaining programs and would still laugh when I watch it. However, this story doesn’t end here. Actually, it doesn’t end until the KIA Flashdance commercial runs an additional 4 MORE TIMES!!!!!!! I’m serious. This commercial ran a total of 7 TIMES in about 35- 40 minutes. Each time it popped on the screen, I laughed; not at the commercial, but at how many times it continued to play. My friend and I eventually stopped eating completely just to watch for the next appearance of the ad. By the 6th time it had shown, we were amazed and bewildered as to why anyone would approve running any TV commercial 6 times in such a sort period of time. Now I’m no media buyer so I don’t know if this is a proven method of getting a brand stuck in ones head (I think they call it “frequency” in the media buying world), but by the 7th time it showed, I had had enough of it. I hope I don’t see it for a very long time.

In Closing

Although this absurd observation of the KIA Flashdance TV commercial with 35 minutes may not make the front page of the Los Angeles Times, it’s something I found hilarious, bewildering, intriguing, and laughable. So I guess in the end, I’m glad I saw it 7 times in one sitting. It makes for a semi-funny story.

The End

Comments

3 Responses to “A Commentary on the KIA Flashdance Commercial”

  1. Robert Durison on January 11th, 2008 4:45 pm

    The KIA “Flashdance” commercial is hilarious although its humor may be lost on a younger generation, most of whom are likely to be potential KIA buyers than older guys like me.

    What I despise is the constant repetition of TV ads that we encounter nowadays, sometimes in less than two minutes as the author observes.

    There’s a sales strategy here that eludes me, and I suspect it’s paving the path to widespead use of TiVo or something else which will take a few more bucks from the consumer’s pocket.

  2. JUDY on January 22nd, 2008 10:37 am

    I LOVE THIS COMMERCIAL. THERE SEEMS TO BE ONLY ONE CHANNEL AROUND DALLAS THAT PLAYS IT.
    I HAVE NEVER SEEN IT ON ANY CHANNEL EXCEPT FOX4. I STILL LISTEN FOR IT AND STOP TO WATCH IT WHENEVER THEY AIR IT. I HOPE IT STAYS ON FOR A WHILE. I WOULD LIKE TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO SAVE IT TO MY COMPUTER.

  3. admin on January 22nd, 2008 10:41 am

    I also love this commercial. Even after seeing it 7 times practically in a row, it still brings a smile to my face. And I actually talked about this experience with a friend and she said they probably showed it so many times in a short period of time because the station owed KIA 7 additional showings for the commercial and they just ran it all within a short period of time. Oh and about saving it to you computer, if you find out how you can do it, definitely let me know ;)

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