I am not questioning how voter laws are being affected by technology. I.D's aren't technology. I am questioning a. why we as creatives, continuously jump on the same bandwagons, like elections. And then I question why, when there are so many election themed ads and promotions out there, we aren't making smarter ones. I am also not trashing anyone. I am saying the ad isn't as strong as it seems, when you get past the surface. And by some of these comments, it seems I'm not the only one.

I have to disagree with your notion that adverts should solely be provocative rather than "selling a simplistic single minded point."

The whole purpose of an ad, is to sell something. And the better you sell it, the simpler the idea is. Not simplistic. But simple. This is advertising 101. This is Hey Whipple Squeeze This, and this is still relevant, despite the fact it is 2012. The goal of advertising is to sell. I know we get caught up in "engagement" and "talking," and whatnot, and perhaps with a self-promotional piece, that makes sense. but at the end of the day our job is to sell something, with an engaging insight.

Shock value, provocativeness, humor, sadness, irony, dead-pan, slapstick, controversial...those are are the ways in which one chooses to sell the idea.
That is tone. That isn't an idea.

Otherwise there would be no need for strategic insight, no need for a USP, no need to brainstorm, and no need to show more than one idea, let alone write a brief.

The goal is to sell something in a creative way. The goal is not to "become famous, " or "to be talked about." If it were, then all the agencies that position themselves as famous suppliers, would retain all their business. But they don't. Because my talking about Cornflakes, or feeling good about the Kellogs brand, doesn't move product.

I will say this one more time: I am not writing from the standpoint of a bitter creative director. And neither, for that matter is Dabitch or any of the other contributors to this site, of which there are more than a few.

We are writing from the standpoint of people with strong points of view. If you don't like them, great. If you don't agree, fantastic. We don't want sheep on this site because they are as boring as the people who seem fit to launch personal attacks at us and question our abilities, or talents.

Frankly we're getting tired of it. A lot of people in advertising seem to forget they are making ads for people. And those people are a) not just those who work in advertising, b) are most likely an actual audience that doesn't work in advertising and has never won awards c) do not care about awards and d) most likely do not care about advertising.

It's important to remember that ultimately even if you disagree with our position and fully believe controversy is the end game, and even if you give a shit about engagement and being famous or being talked about, your audience is still those people out there, and the people right here. We are the audience as much as the critics. And we critique out of our love of advertising. Not hatred. We critique out of frustration because across the board advertising needs to be elevated. Which makes us hard on ads as much as the work we create. And more often than not, unless the ad really sucks and is beyond hope from our POV, we offer other ways in and suggestions that would make it better next time.

We're not a regurgitate the PR release kind of place, and we don't mince words. Mostly because we're busy and cut to the chase, but also we assume everyone is grown up enough to understand the above.