Why are Ads Doing This?

After watching Katut declare his love for Rhonda, or possibly ask her to marry him (my Indonesian

isn't what it used to be), I was left wondering how I'm meant to feel about this; am I supposed to feel some kind of emotional connection to Rhonda and Katut? Relief that Rhonda chose him over Trent Too-Good (who I think might be a bit of a player and dropped Rhonda as soon as someone better came along)? Why else would Aami be telling us the story of Rhonda and Katut if we weren't meant to be feeling some kind of emotional connection with them? But then that leads to the obvious question;

Why the hell would Aami want us to feel this emotional connection with them at all?

It's not like I've gone out and bought some insurance after watching a particularly emotional episode of Bold and the Beautiful (yes, I'm guilty of that little sin. And no, I don't think there's ever been a “particularly emotional” episode ever) or Neighbours. Does Aami have that little faith in their insurance that they're trying to manipulate us through Rhonda and Katut?

And if that's the case, why the hell would I want to purchase their insurance? It's clearly not up to scratch.

But they're not the first company to do it; Budget Direct has Zeek and Ziah, the shape shifting aliens

sent here ahead of the main invasion force from their home world to gather information about life on Earth … yeah, I should probably explain that one; I'm sure you all remember a
couple of years ago how Budget Direct had that French woman in the shower singing “Bood-jay” while she washed her hair in the shower (and I might point out that she wasn't using nearly enough shampoo, which only strengthens my argument), and then being told “It's budget, love.” by her partner. Then all of sudden they had the same ad

Ok, slightly different bathrooms. But who's to say they didn't redecorate?

but with Zeek and Ziah the aliens in their place! Totally shape shifting aliens sent here to gather information. Although I still don't see what that story has to do with me buying insurance. Unless perhaps it's life insurance (does Budget Direct do life insurance?).

Then there's RACV and Jason and his possible new girlfriend. Although, the fact that Jason may now be dating the

new girl at work isn't going to make me rush out to get some boat insurance (the fact that I don't have a boat may also be a big reason for this as well). But still, the Jason wooing the new girl at work ads are far more tolerable than the original ones where he was a contender for the world's biggest douche title.

So it just looks like it's insurance companies that are guilty of trying to manipulate us into buying their stuff by trying to get us to connect on an emotional level, or scare us silly with the characters in their ads. Stands to reason; they're selling insurance, after all. There really isn't all that much to differentiate them from other insurance companies. At the end of the day, all you have after parting with you hard earned is a piece of paper stating how much you'll be paid if something bad happens to whatever you've insured (and considering it's an insurance company, that piece of paper is probably a very long, complicatedly worded document that ensures that insurance company is ripping you off unless you read through it thoroughly).

But then I remembered this:

 <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/DvlWQyvEI38" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Hilarious, right? Everyone loved this ad (if you didn't, you're wrong). It was the start of a whole wave of Bigpond ads with that father and son team. I'm not sure if they planned on all those ads or decided to just ride on the success of that first one, but I think we can all agree that the writers of those ads failed to recapture the brilliance of the first one (hahaha, Emperor Nasi Goreng!). Although, I don't think that Bigpond was trying to make us connect with those two on an emotional level. I think we supposed to be afraid of looking like a fool and passing it on to our children.

They are totally part of a larger invasion force!

And what really gets me is that these ads actually work! People make their decisions based upon these ads (otherwise why would these companies spend millions of dollars on them?), instead of actually doing some research into the product in question themselves. I don't want to be left wondering if my house insurance will be honoured when the main invasion force from Zeek and Ziah's home world arrive, that's why I don't pay any attention to these ads (except for entertainment) and actually do my own research before purchasing something important like an insurance policy.

Fox