If you’re watching the Super Bowl, you saw this utter shitcake of a commercial from Teleflora mocking women who read romance novels.
Ok, Teleflora. Eat a dick. You need flowers? Let me tell you: I’ve never had anything but wonderful results from ProFlowers.com. Click the radio icon in the corner and you can often get a free vase. The flowers have lasted a long ass time, and to my knowledge, ProFlowers has never mocked my love of romance novels.
ETA 2/3/09: Folks who complained via email to Teleflora are receiving apologetic email with a $15 coupon good toward a future purchase. Looks like complaining yields some results.
That “no one wants to see you naked ” comment still has me pissed off.
I didn’t watch the game—was otherwise occupied during most of the relevant time period—and so missed the ad.
Like the rest of the gallery, I’m boggled that Teleflora approved the ad for broadcast. However, I am also boggled that whatever ad agency was involved let the relevant account execs show the proposal for that ad to that client in the first place.
Mind, I understand the intended psychology—the intended target for mockery is the competition’s lame flowers, with the intended message being that Teleflora’s are better than that—but the execution fails on so many basic levels that the ad shouldn’t have gotten anywhere near the Teleflora offices in that form.
I foresee a rapid change of ad agencies in Teleflora’s future, and very possibly an equally quick trip to the unemployment office for the agency staffer(s) who developed and pushed through that particular ad. The failure of perception is positively appalling.
This is the company who had a category for mothers day called NON-MOMS that had adopted/adoptee groups in an uproar also. Whoever handles their advertising department needs some so serious groin kicking.
And they spent how much money on this? I was in a different room and heard the husband, daughter, and her fiance all groan, followed by the patter of feet, a “whew,” and my daughter yelling to her dad. “It’s okay. The TV is still intact. Mom hasn’t thrown anything…Yet!”
Yeah. She knows me. Teleflora is on my Do Not Call list now, too.
“Teleflora’s in-house unit Fire Station Agency handles. The spot was directed by John O’Hagan at production company RSA (Ridley Scott Associates).”
found here: http://www.flowersandcents.org/index.php?topic=2178.0
This seems to be like all those moms of the American Idol entrants who can’t sing – too close and invested to realize the truth.
We like 1-800Flowers and FTD, too. Teleflora, FAIL!! I’m so ticked off.
You can drop them an email via their website. Hit “about us,” and then “email customer service.” I’d bet they have comments turned off on their blog. I would.
I sent this This email is regarding your Superbowl ad, which aired on 2/1/09. I find it to be misogynist and offensive. I will not be patronizing your service, and I will encourage my friends and family not to patronize it either. You made a gross misstep in insulting women as the (only) target of floral gifts and alienated many potential customers in doing so.
Their dig at romance novels was the LEAST of my issues with the language in this ad.
My husband’s sent me flowers twice this deployment alone. I’ll make sure he won’t be using Teleflora. The idiocy is astounding.
At the party tonight the only time the entire room was quiet was after that ad played… the women were just astounded at the stupidity and the men knew better then to open their mouths.
STEELERS for the WIN!!!!!!!!!!!
Teleflora, NOT
Pathetic. And hatefully disrespectful of women. Truly unbelievable that they didn’t realize the message they were sending.
I was thinking about this, though – how often does anyone buy flowers these days? I’m 40 now, and I thought it was kind of a “mom” gift to receive when I was 20. They’re OK, but I’d much rather go out to dinner than get a $70 bouquet on valentine’s day. Delivery flowers are for funerals and mother’s day, or for husbands who can’t be bothered to show up in person. (send me a plant, or bring me a bouquet from the farmer’s market – now we’re talking.)
Anyway, watching that my thought was – they are dinosaurs and they advertise like dinosaurs. They need to travel back to 1961 and find some customers. (men who have contempt for women, like Teleflora does.)
Um,
ok, this ad didn’t make me angry. It’s just a stupid ad.
I guess what they were trying to say was ‘careful what you send out, you never know how people are going to take it’.
The irony is perfect. The ad agency should have heeded the very message they were trying to sell.
When that commercial ran, I turned to my partner and said, “SmartBitch Sarah is going to be ALL OVER this one!” Wow, just wow.
Congrats to all you Stillers fans, too!
Here’s my comment:
Dear Teleflora,
FUCK. One day, I shall be able to post a comment without making typos. Maybe I should do them in the morning when I’m still fresh.
Am I the only one who thinks you people are taking yourselves too seriously? That commercial was hilarious! Offensive, sure, but very funny. Suck it up- why care what anyone else thinks?
Dear Troll,
There’s a big reason to care what people think—their opinions reflect how seriously they take you and how much respect you get, and that, in a social setting, determines pretty much everything you can accomplish. I’m 22 years old, live on my own, and have a 3.69 GPA pursuing a geology degree in a college whose Earth Science department is run by slavedriving sadists whose stated intention is to break us down and rebuild us in their image—but I can’t argue a damn thing with my parents, because they still see me as their child. It’s similar—that commercial just enforces the stereotype of romance being a shitty genre, and romance readers being sad, shitty people. I don’t even read romance that much, but I’m pissed at the layers of offense stacked into that commercial.
Fuck you.
I only watched bits and pieces after the half-time show and was taken aback at how boring all the commercials were. I’m glad I missed this one. The cats would have been upset, if they’d heard that.
It’s truly amazing that here we are in the 21st century and this makes it to national TV and one of the most watched programs of the year. Truly amazing!
Words fail me. No I do not have another96 words to say.
Between the Teleflora clusterfuck, the Pepsi “Pepsuber,” which proved that people who drink Pepsi are self-centered and stupid enough to blow themselves up rather than act with any modicum of common sense and I am so never, ever drinking Pepsi ever again, and the GoDaddy “Enhancement” mind-boggler that cut away just as the enhanced bimbo yanked off her clothing – was this year worse than usual? Or am I just bitchier these days and less willing to put up with this kind of bullshit?
Wow, that was just so MEAN on so many different levels.
Sent them a strongly worded message about their idiocy and crassness. (if I term it anything else, I will certainly lose my temper)
The fact is – sure, most men buy the flowers but, dude, there’s normally a female on the receiving end. You think women want someone to send them something from that company? Valentine’s day is coming up and I’m certainly informing the significant other that if anything from that company shows up, I will Not Be Pleased.
My mum is definitely getting her flowers from proflowers. My sisters? the same. My SIL? Same. Anything but this company.
Me, my fat ass, my multitude of dogs (not cats, am allergic) and my romance novels are not impressed.
peace58? yeah right. not over this.
I wrote them, too. I was completely aghast when I heard that ad – it brought me back into the living room from the kitchen. It was so shockingly nasty, and a roomful of kids were watching. Give me a wardrobe malfunction any day. I’d far rather my kids get a good long look at Janet Jackson’s breast than have them hear “You’re a train wreck/No one wants to see you naked” in that snide, demeaning tone.
I mean, I get what the ad people were going for: DON’T choose flowers that insult the recipient. But the impression the ad leaves is, “This crude, misogynistic rant has been brought to you by Teleflora.” Gee, thanks. But where’s my frickin’ vase?
I liked the Bob Dylan Pepsi commercial best. I also liked the Coke commercial with the bugs, and the Cheetos commercial where pigeons were a weapon against the rude cell phone user, as well as most of the movie trailers. And I admit I did laugh at the MacGuyver spoof for Pepsi, because I was so hot for MacGuyver in my youth, and there was Richard Dean Anderson himself in a baaaad mullet wig. Looked like he belonged on an old-skool snarkable cover, maybe for a romance about a lumberjack….
I’m going to vote this year, I think; it will make me feel better.
ETA: The hulu.com vote for your favorite Super Bowl ad is sponsored by Teleflora. Ew.
Fortunately, I’ve never bought from Teleflora and now I never will. I tried leaving a message on their blog, but it wouldn’t post!
Gosh, I’m so surprised!
I’ve used 1-800-Flowers for about 8 years and have never had a
problem. At least I’ve never seen a shitty commercial from them.
I guess I’ll take my fat ass to bed and read 3 or 4 romance novels.
My security word is might69. I might if I had a good partner.
On a positive note, this ad didn’t make the Sports Illustrated top 20. That perhaps suggests missing the target market.
Am I the only one who thought they were being clever, or at least trying to, by having the ‘bad flowers’ employ worn-out cliches as insults? Romance novels and cats: yes, she’s a spinster. The boxed flowers are so unimaginative (yes, I’m anthropomorphising computerised flowers) that they can’t even find anything original to say. The bad flowers said something bad. Wasn’t that the idea?
Or for husbands who aren’t *able* to show up in person, due to work constraints and so forth. And I have the blackest thumb ever born (my record for killing a live plant is two days) so a plant is a very bad idea. *g*
It’s outrageous! I could hardly believe it.
I’m sure that those who devised the advertisment did think they were being clever/funny/ironic, but it simply doesn’t work. It comes over as unbelievably crude, vulgar, bigoted, offensive and just plain nasty.
Doesn’t the USA have an equivalent of our Advertising Standards Authority?
http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/about/short_guide/
A large volume of public complaints to the ASA about an advert always creates a lot of media coverage in the UK and can be a huge embarrassment to the offending company. Mind you, I think this company is going to be pretty embarrassed anyway, not least by losing a vast amount of business.
I was reading an article this morning on sfgate.com on the Super Bowl ads and while they didn’t mention the Teleflora ad specifically, this one paragraph did jump out at me:
So while the PC police are going to be hypervigilant about gay and racial slights (and rightly so) it would appear, yet again, that the last acceptable group left to attack happens to be women, especially, the subset of the single woman. Because while yes, I’m smart enough to have gotten the irony, they missed the boat, big time.
And yeah, the Danica Patrick/Go Daddy commercials bugged me too, but whatever. She’s a grown up. If that’s what she thinks it takes to play with the big boys, then right on.
What morons. Instead of the asshole flowers being associated with some fictional competitor, they will forever in my mind now be linked with Teleflora.
And WTF is wrong with flowers in a box? I have lots of vases, and no room for any more, especially the cheap assed ones that come with flowers.
This is like complaining that your pants didn’t come with a belt.
Lorelie – you’re right. That was insensitive of me. Of course our loved ones can’t always be there in person.
But what I was meaning to say in my clumsy way 🙂 is that I don’t think delivered flowers is really a growth industry. It seems to me like a campaign (if they continue it) that has the potential to backfire on their whole industry because it left me with such a bad impression. (flowers are for losers was the takeaway I got.)
Like someone else here commented, the whole thing about boxes and vases is just weird. I wouldn’t know the difference, or care. I’d just be happy someone bought me something! They seem to have imagined a target audience of people who are really paying attention to the details of floral delivery, and I’m imagining an audience of people who maybe think about it once or twice a year.
(Also, since we’re comparing notes, when I need to order flowers I always call a local florist. You can talk to the person picking out the flowers for your arrangement, plus you save $5 or $10.)
Ugh, that was a horrible ad.
And I have to talk about this somewhere. This morning I got an email from Ideal Image (the place I get laser hair removal from) and the email pretty much said that laser hair removal gift certificates were a good idea for Valentine’s Day. Umm, no. Why in the world would anyone think that laser hair removal is an appropriate gift??? Any gift that says “you should change this about yourself” is not something you give another person!
They seem to have imagined a target audience of people who are really paying attention to the details of floral delivery, and I’m imagining an audience of people who maybe think about it once or twice a year.
I think the vast majority of people who send flowers don’t even think about a box or a vase at all or really care either way. To me the ad was not only offensive, but very stupid and cheap.
What if the woman receiving the flowers was drop dead gorgeous or a famous model? Would it be funny then? They made the woman pathetic and sad.
The commercial also has an “Office Space” movie feel to it.
What bothers me now that I’ve had some sleep (not much – had to watch all the post-game victory party because dude, STEELERS WON WOO HOO) is how stupid and cruel the entire subtext is.
“You are not loved. You are ugly, stupid, and should be humiliated.”
That’s what poses as a good method through which to sell flowers?
David Ogilvy, who was more than a little bizarre and also holy shit brilliant, was the founder of Ogilvy advertising. There’s a bio of him, The King of Madison Avenue (and if you’re writing an over the top character, you might want to check this book out for the very top of over-the-top) and in it, Kenneth Roman talks about Ogilvy’s legacy on American advertising. From page 226:
“The consumer is not a moron, she is your wife. Never write an advertisement you would not want your own family to read. You would not tell lies to your wife. Don’t tell them to mine.”
Spinning that out to this ad, I’m still trying to figure out who they thought the audience was – and why insulting a character whom all of us know (the single working woman) would be a good way to sell their business.
I’m working on a coupon code for ProFlowers for the Bitchery. Stay tuned.
Yes, there’s room to point to us and say we’re taking things too seriously, but I’m prepared
You know, I don’t know that I read this specifically here, but in our home, we do send flowers, planters with flowers in them, what have you, for lots of different occasions. And you know who does the ordering? ME! Not the DH. So why would anyone in their right mind (though obviously this bunch isn’t) make a commercial which is so very insulting to the ones who chose which florist they’ll use?
The only thing my DH ever orders for me is Vermont Teddy Bears. Everything else is me.
*sigh*
dumb…just really dumb…
I think that qualifies as the Black Hand award!!
If you go to GoDaddy.com, you get the complete commercial, and it’s not what you thing the ending is either. I actually enjoyed it.
The first ad that ProFlowers had was just as bad- a woman in the hospital who recieved flowers from the office. That one wasn’t funny either.
I really like the coke (or was it pepsi) commercial where the bottle was highjacked by the bees and bugs from the guy on the picnic. Thought it was very nicely done. And the Bob Dylan/Will.I.Am (what a stupid name, btw) one, and of course the Budweiser Ads. Wonder what will happen now with the company no longer American owned? They are closing the hospitality suites at the parks. What next? The ads??
GO STEELERS!!! FUCKING A!!
I guess if Teleflora were the first and/or only ones to trash romance novels/readers, I’d have my knickers in a knot. However, seeing as that is so not the case ………. c’est le vie.
Plus I order all flowers at local florists, so no need/want to boycott some place I have no need/want to deal with.
Maybe if I had seen the actual commercial (no computer is going to help me with that, one at work has no speakers – one at home too slow) I MIGHT be able to muster up some rage…then again, I doubt it.
Just an FYI for the bitchery…
As a former florist, a lot of small floral shops use teleflora as a service if you are sending flowers to someone outside their local delivery area.
Make sure if you do this (for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, birthdays, whatever) that you tell them NOT TO USE Teleflora as a service.
That will actually hit Teleflora where it hurts.
I ordered ALL my wedding flowers from an online Flowers-in-a-box company, and they were GORGEOUS! I’ve never had so many compliments and “where did you get those”!
These were bulk flowers so you have to let them stand in water for 3 days to rehydrate and look pretty but wow! Ordered the Calla Lilies from The Grower’s Box and the roses from Blooms by the Box.
Time.com gave the Teleflora ad a C+, stating it probably missed its mark with at least one or the other, men or women. I say both.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1874549_1874552_1876182,00.html