ugh. at the beach.
the email I wrote, 4/07/09 at 7:57am
To whom it may concern,
I'm writing in hopes of reaching your customer service and/or advertising departments.
I have never written an email or letter complaining to a company before, but your current (animated) commercials are so problematic that I feel very strongly about reaching someone at At the Beach Tanning to voice my concerns.
As a video producer and advertising copywriter, I understand the gimmicks in the television business very well, and it's obvious why your company chose to have an animated woman with a thick, strange voice describing your tanning services. This isn't a case of someone writing to you who 'just doesn't get advertising'. But your commercials are so offensive that my skin crawls when they come on.
My first concern is the volume of your commercials. They are so loud that I have actually had to change the volume of my television in the morning-- I keep the volume moderately low to begin with, but loud enough that I can hear it when I'm in the next room getting ready for work in the morning. Because of your commercials, and your commercials alone, I can no longer listen to shows while I'm in the next room because your volume is SO much louder than the rest of
commercials and TV shows that it will bother my neighbors in my apartment building. It's absurdly loud. I've never had this problem, but thanks to At the Beach, I can't even watch television before work now.
Also, the 'gimmick' of having your animated character swear so much that her words have to be censored-- well, I'd rather watch someone having a root canal trying to sell me their services. It's so annoying that I've had friends leap up from my couch in the middle of our conversation in an attempt to find the remote control or get to the television to turn it off because it's the most annoying commercial we've ever heard.
I volunteer with young foster children, and if one of them was at my home when this commercial came on, I would not only find this idiotic, bronzed, swearing cartoon character too embarrassing to let the kids watch, but I would also feel deeply disappointed that they had to see
a cartoon character act like this. Children shouldn't have to see animated characters dropping words that are so offensive, they have to be censored... especially kids whose only escape from the harsh language they get at home is often through things like animated shows on television. I've honestly heard other people complaining about this commercial, too-- co-workers
have even brought it up on more than one occasion during our lunch break because they saw it before work, and at 1pm, they're still annoyed enough to remember it. This isn't a way to generate business-- it's just a way to link your company name with mediocrity.
I hope that you will add these concerns to the other negative feedback you've collected about this e-mail campaign, because your commercial isn't just something that I don't care for-- it literally raises my blood pressure from how annoying and moronic it is. I'm sure that At the Beach can come up with a campaign that increases your client base without making the rest of us
have to get ready for work in silence every morning. I don't like writing a negative email, but I'm sure you can come up with a campaign that promotes your services and touts the talents of your hard-working employees... I'm writing to ask you to please withdraw the loud, language-bleeped series that you currently have running on television.
And please, please, TURN DOWN THE VOLUME. No one likes to be yelled at.
Thank you,
Jane Simmons
The response:
--------------------------------------------------------
xxxx xxxxxxx
Customer Servce
At The Beach Inc. - Corporate Headquarters
the amazing update:
I never, ever heard that commercial again.
Even tonight, as I'm wrapped in blankets trying to finish some work with some left-over sleepy crankiness from only getting a couple hours of sleep on Friday... when an At The Beach commercial just started playing on whatever station is playing in the background, it was so much quieter than the show & other commercials that I thought my set had turned itself off.
Behold. The power of a well-timed rant. (Or at least the power of wanting to believe you had anything to do with something that turned out nicely)
mmm.
To whom it may concern,
I'm writing in hopes of reaching your customer service and/or advertising departments.
I have never written an email or letter complaining to a company before, but your current (animated) commercials are so problematic that I feel very strongly about reaching someone at At the Beach Tanning to voice my concerns.
As a video producer and advertising copywriter, I understand the gimmicks in the television business very well, and it's obvious why your company chose to have an animated woman with a thick, strange voice describing your tanning services. This isn't a case of someone writing to you who 'just doesn't get advertising'. But your commercials are so offensive that my skin crawls when they come on.
My first concern is the volume of your commercials. They are so loud that I have actually had to change the volume of my television in the morning-- I keep the volume moderately low to begin with, but loud enough that I can hear it when I'm in the next room getting ready for work in the morning. Because of your commercials, and your commercials alone, I can no longer listen to shows while I'm in the next room because your volume is SO much louder than the rest of
commercials and TV shows that it will bother my neighbors in my apartment building. It's absurdly loud. I've never had this problem, but thanks to At the Beach, I can't even watch television before work now.
Also, the 'gimmick' of having your animated character swear so much that her words have to be censored-- well, I'd rather watch someone having a root canal trying to sell me their services. It's so annoying that I've had friends leap up from my couch in the middle of our conversation in an attempt to find the remote control or get to the television to turn it off because it's the most annoying commercial we've ever heard.
I volunteer with young foster children, and if one of them was at my home when this commercial came on, I would not only find this idiotic, bronzed, swearing cartoon character too embarrassing to let the kids watch, but I would also feel deeply disappointed that they had to see
a cartoon character act like this. Children shouldn't have to see animated characters dropping words that are so offensive, they have to be censored... especially kids whose only escape from the harsh language they get at home is often through things like animated shows on television. I've honestly heard other people complaining about this commercial, too-- co-workers
have even brought it up on more than one occasion during our lunch break because they saw it before work, and at 1pm, they're still annoyed enough to remember it. This isn't a way to generate business-- it's just a way to link your company name with mediocrity.
I hope that you will add these concerns to the other negative feedback you've collected about this e-mail campaign, because your commercial isn't just something that I don't care for-- it literally raises my blood pressure from how annoying and moronic it is. I'm sure that At the Beach can come up with a campaign that increases your client base without making the rest of us
have to get ready for work in silence every morning. I don't like writing a negative email, but I'm sure you can come up with a campaign that promotes your services and touts the talents of your hard-working employees... I'm writing to ask you to please withdraw the loud, language-bleeped series that you currently have running on television.
And please, please, TURN DOWN THE VOLUME. No one likes to be yelled at.
Thank you,
Jane Simmons
The response:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Ms. Simmons,
I would fist like to say Thank You for your email. Although it definitely was to point, it was also constructive instead of nasty and argumentative. I have received numerous emails about this particular commercial because of what seems to be censored profanity. This commercial is currently under review by our marketing team. This commercial is not censored in Oklahoma because it does not contain profanity or at least the commercial played in Oklahoma does not. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you and anyone else who is dipleased by the content. I would like to further note that because your email is very professional I will be forwarding a copy to our President and Vice President as well as other corporate employees that have the power to remedy the situation. I have notified them of the numerous emails I have received in the past due to this commercial but never received one I could forward with confidence.
xxxx xxxxxxx
Customer Servce
At The Beach Inc. - Corporate Headquarters
the amazing update:
I never, ever heard that commercial again.
Even tonight, as I'm wrapped in blankets trying to finish some work with some left-over sleepy crankiness from only getting a couple hours of sleep on Friday... when an At The Beach commercial just started playing on whatever station is playing in the background, it was so much quieter than the show & other commercials that I thought my set had turned itself off.
Behold. The power of a well-timed rant. (Or at least the power of wanting to believe you had anything to do with something that turned out nicely)
mmm.
posted by JustJane at
11:09 PM
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