I just watched the new Folger’s Advertisement that’s playing on the Internet. In it, a crowd of yellow glowing idiots (are they dead spirits?) sing and annoy the inhabitants of a seaside town until - surprise! - those inhabitants drink their coffee. A couple of sips of (you guessed it) Folgers and the townspeople actually tap their fingers along with the singing idiots. Message: drink your coffee and you’ll love mornings.

Heather Green over at BusinessWeek Online describes the spot as “disturbing.” In her blog she posts the Folger’s pitch for the ad. I’m with Heather - I find the ad disturbing as well, considering that the ad’s song includes the line “You can sleep when you are dead.” But, even more than disturbing to me is the horrible lack of strategy behind this ad. At our agency we drink lots and lots of coffee, and we actually drink Folger’s. I love the taste of Folger’s but I really hate this ad.

Come on Folger’s, did you think to ask the question “What’s this ad going to do for our brand?” From where I’m sitting this ad makes your brand silly, annoying and unlikeable. Don’t insult your customers with glowing yellow idiots (singing or otherwise) and don’t remind your customers that someday they’ll be dead. Your product is coffee - COFFEE!  Maybe you should keep your product AND your market in mind next time.

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