Amusement Park Advertisements with Roller Coasters Not Actually in Advertised Park

Here's what I've learned from this thread: if you're an enthusiast, don't move to Dayton.

The funny thing is, Brian, I was going to replace Cedar Point with "Your Local Park", which would have been exactly what you were saying.

Vater said:

Here's what I've learned from this thread: if you're an enthusiast, don't move to Dayton.

I think that applies to non-enthusiasts as well.

I think we should settle this with a podcast.

Aw...don't break your record of zero podcasts in 2012 on our account.

*winky*

A podcast debate on this would be most welcomed.

Tekwardo said:

But I bet McDonald's enthusiasts know which store that was shot at and get just as angry that there aren't specific ads for specific McDonald's.

You think coaster enthusiasts are hard to please? You should read the threads on McBuzz. I read a lot of complaints about them being so crowded that people had to park mid-billboard. The trip reports are pretty epic, though.

Lord Gonchar said:

I think I can't drop it because it makes perfect sense to me on all levels. I having a hard time understanding how people who's intelligence and opinion I generally respect don't seem to 'get' it. (and before you have to post it, yes, I know you can turn that one right around on me too...it's been the theme of the debate)

See? That's the difference... I don't respect your intelligence and opinion.

(And so help me, if I have to put a winky on that, someone's getting a knife in the throat!...... See what I did there? I paid homage to your preferred method of enthusiast aversion just to demonstrate my unconditional regard.)

I find this practice in advertising to be very apropos to the age we live in. Which is to say, capturing something of the perceived spirit of the thing while being less than literally honest. These billboards and commercials are stating, "We got rides that are kinda like this."

Or, with a tip o' the hat to Stephen Colbert, they're "truthy".

Thank you, Mike! That's exactly what I'm railing against. I believe that getting at the "truthy" aspect of anything is exactly what is wrong with many industries. Or said another way, details matter.

But really, given even the little bit of debate about what the purpose of these ads are...what message the consumer is supposed to receive... can't anyone concede they may have missed the mark? I think the consumer should always walk away with a clear message. Advertising is not an art form, per se. Can folks have different emotions about the product from the same message? Certainly. Should they still at least know what the product was? Absolutely.

We can't seem to agree on whether the product is the park itself, the local park, the essence of excitement that a roller coaster brings, or the coaster itself.

And since folks keep trying to make this an enthusiast issue, which it isn't for me, let me say I have never read FunForward and I won't start now. I shouldn't need to know the marketing strategy to understand the advertising. The average consumer never will. And on the topic of advertising, I believe the consumer's raw experience carries more weight than the professional expertise of those who delivered it.

I'm a tech writer, so I'll keep this short: I'm with you Carrie!

They should use the right park for the billboards and as the bumper at the end of the TV ads.

Carrie J. said:

Or said another way, details matter.

Except when they don't.

But really, given even the little bit of debate about what the purpose of these ads are...what message the consumer is supposed to receive... can't anyone concede they may have missed the mark?

But I don't think they did. I think it's a flat-out bullseye.

Which leads to...

And since folks keep trying to make this an enthusiast issue, which it isn't for me, let me say I have never read FunForward and I won't start now. I shouldn't need to know the marketing strategy to understand the advertising.

Nor have I, yet the terms I've used in the course of the discussion to describe what I thought explained the ads were eerily similar to the ones they used.

I totally 'get' it.

And like I said ealier, I'm struggling to figure out how so many here don't.

---

And barely related (and pure speculation), I don't think it's an enthusiast issue so to speak, but I think enthusiasts tend to be a certain type of people. For those kinds of people, (and it seems awfully OCD to me) the idea that the visual is not a literal translation equates to a poor ad.

By and large in terms of the users on this site who have participated in the conversation, it's disliked and the ads don't make sense.

It doesn't make me happy to tell you all that you're wrong, but someone has to do it. ;)

The McDonald's talk reminds me of the time maybe a year or two ago that they were commercials on every local station advertising "any size coffee or soft drink for $1.00." Except when some friends and I went to our local MickeyD's, we were told that didn't apply to their particular market. Their market must have been a sliver 10 miles long and the width of the highway. And I bet they dealt with a lot of pissed off people who thought they overpaid for their large coffee or Coke.

Anyway, the generic you don't know who you'll connect with at Cedar Fair commercials may work in Ohio, where your choices are basically Cedar Fair or the Zoo. Play a commercial like that in eastern PA, and people may be emotionally moved to go to a park, except the chances are it won't be Dorney.

I bought a Kia Soul and it didn't come with a single damn hip-hop hamster.

You're actually equating that with marketing an amusement park by advertising images from a completely different amusement park?

I went to look at one of those Kia Souls at the local dealer and in reality they come with hip-hop gerbils instead of the hamsters depicted in the commercial.

Boy was I pissed!

What it the Kia Soul is shown in green on the billboard, but it is not available in green at any of the dealerships. Only the Rio is available in green (hypothetically).

Misleading? False advertising? Is it anything like we are talking about here? I am just blabbing. Carry on. lol

Neither. The vehicle comes in green. Just because it's not available when you get there isn't false advertising, nor is it misleading.

Kings Island has a coaster with a corkscrew element. Just because theirs is a different color doesn't mean it's false advertising.

LostKause said:

Everyone knows that a commercial for McDonald's is being filmed at some McDonald's restaurant somewhere in the world. Everyone know every McDonald's looks a little bit different.

I'm more concerned that the delicious looking Big Mac in the ads looks nothing like the slop-in-a-box that I'm served in the restaurant.