It is certainly not, otherwise I would have chosen a different career.

There are amazing products out there, tons of really cool brands, some clever tag lines and some brilliant ad campaigns.

But let’s face it, we are exposed to thousands of ad messages everyday and most of them just carry the distinct smell of crap. 

As a marketer I’m ashamed of the huge pile of BS our profession imposes on people. Or “the consumer” as we like to call our dehumanized targets. But since I’m committed to keeping down my stress levels, and because I don’t want to turn this post into a rant, I decided instead to laugh, yawn and eye roll at those lowly forms of marketing.

You know what I’m talking about! It’s that guy on TV with his perfect hair talking about how his bank makes him feel special because of its unique personalized service. LOL Yes, my bank calls me by my first name when I log in to my netbanking but the only time they make me have a feeling is when they piss me off with their hidden fees.

This week I was reading an article on briefing.pt (a portuguese marketing newspaper) about the rebranding of a credit insurance company. It says something like this:

“This image rebranding is a graphic update of several pre-existing brand elements (…), introducing new colors meant to express rigor, professionalism, commitment, as well as a close relationship with the clients.”

HUGE YAWN.

Seriously, I’d love to meet the person who wrote this press release. He/she is so right! This orange does scream “commitment”. A color that expresses “professionalism”? Give me some of that!

I guess they could have written an honest press release saying they changed their brand image because it’s just what you do every 5 years. Or because they have a new marketing director who needs to prove himself. Or because their previous image was old and ugly.

The difference is that the honest PR wouldn’t get media coverage. The thing both have in common is that NO ONE CARES.

So, I decided to put together a tumblr page named BS Marketing to call out all the bullshit. If you see something so full of crap that it’s funny, ridiculous, makes you wanna yawn, eye roll or puke, just submit a suggestion by email or by leaving a comment.

And check out this BS Detector video by Adobe:

Rute Silva Brito