Anguish Or Amusement: The Weekender

Super Bowl XLV featured ads that we praised and ads that we panned.

But February 6 wasn't the only important day for advertising. During the other 364 days of the year, consumers are exposed to an overabundance of commercials. Some of them are subtly humorous:

Some try a little too hard to get a laugh:

Some, like this spot from Honda HMC, don't try hard enough:

Then there are commercials that like to overwhelm the 24-hour news networks with repeated airings. One of them is a lengthy spot designed to promote The Weekender.

If this ad is to be believed, it can bring couples together, replace travel agents, and turn a dull weekend into the best three days of your life.

Think I'm exaggerating? In the opening scene, we see Cute Girl A and Average Guy A holding hands.

“I think it was the Sunday Styles that brought us together,” Cute Girl A remarks.

“I think it was the Weekend Review,” says Average Guy A.

This scene is immediately followed with a close-up of Average Guy B, who says that getting the times delivered was “really the best part of the weekend.”

Really, guy? The best part of your weekend? Just how bad was your weekend, anyway? It couldn't have been this bad:

Even if it was, would The Weekender really turn things around? I enjoy reading Entertainment Weekly, but its arrival has never been the highlight of my day (let alone the entire weekend).

From there, Average Guy A tells us that The Weekender is a “Friday, Saturday, Sunday subscription that puts you in the center of the conversation.” Whether or not that's true for some readers, I don't know. But between the generic imagery (giant cutouts of the magazine appearing behind the actors) and the silly dialogue (Cute Girl B: “How many sections are you fluent in?”), this commercial was not built for multiple airings.

Rather than bombard viewers with the same message over and over again, The Weekender would be wise to pick one day a week to air the 60-second spot.

And I know just the day: Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

Anguish Or Amusement is a new, ongoing feature at Benzinga aimed at discussing and dissecting the world of mainstream advertising. Stay tuned for future installments.