It has been 10 years now and South Africa’s mass media is still complicit in one of the most diabolical consumer confidence tricks ever devised.
Of all the politically correct stupidity in this country, one of the most irritating is that last line on most radio ads: ‘Terms and conditions apply’. Now it’s become even worse because all they say is ‘T and Cs apply’.
Even more maddening are those ads in which the speaker speeds up his voice to the speed of light: “nofosaletoanyoneunnerthageofateen.”
Of course, this T&C thing is the result of a painful compromise. Between frustrated consumers, who claimed that ads were misleading, and the advertisers, who said they could not afford ads long enough ads to spell out those Ts and Cs.
I suppose, in a way, it sort of warns us that if we’re going to get excited about what an ad is offering we should prepare ourselves to be disappointed because there is definitely going to be a catch.
It’s a bit like spotting the woman of your dreams across a crowded room and after hours of fantasising about living forever with her, she comes across and flings herself into your arms talking about love at first sight and asking you to carry her away. And then you discover that she has been married 10 times, has halitosis to beat the band and thinks Brent Crude is the villain in Isidingo.
In this day and age, consumers are desperately looking for someone or something to trust. And using a promise as bait and conditions as a hook might get some consumers to swallow what they’re being offered, but it hardly engenders any form of loyalty.
But, what I can’t understand is why some enterprising company hasn’t hit on the idea of really winning the hearts, minds and wallets of the consumer by advertising the fact that ‘absolutely no terms or conditions apply’.
In this day and age, consumers are desperately looking for someone or something to trust. And using a promise as bait and conditions as a hook might get some consumers to swallow what they’re being offered, but it hardly engenders any form of loyalty.
Because human nature is such that disappointment is the bedfellow of lowered expectations. And who needs to keep dealing with someone who constantly disappoints you?
What makes all this kind of marketing work some of the time in spite of annoying consumers all of the time, is that a sizeable chunk of the South African market so desperately wants to own things that disappointment is suppressed.
It relies on advertising that appeals to our impulses and as everyone knows, impulses most often lead to regret. It’s the same with the ban on comparative advertising. Now that is about as anti-consumer as you can get. Especially as, according top the rules, brands can claim their products to be the best in the world but can’t say they are better.
I would have hoped by now, a decade later, that consumers were getting both weary and wary of the terms and conditions ploy and are now looking for someone who will sell them something without all those strings attached.
Problem is South African consumers are among the most apathetic in the world. Which is why the put up with advertising bullshit, political lies, the most expensive mobile tariffs and being ripped off by supermarkets during this Covid-19 pandemic.
Chris Moerdyk (@chrismoerdyk ) is a marketing analyst and advisor and owner of Moerdyk Marketing with many years of experience in marketing and the media as well as serving as non-executive director and chairman of companies.
