One thing you need to know about me: I have eyes like a hawk.
Nothing gets by my vigilant scrutiny.
Well, except maybe for the current financial crisis, the war in Iraq, global warming, the rise of Hitler, and the Bolshevik Revolution.
But the point is, when it comes to TV commercials, I’m focused like a laser beam.
So you can imagine my disbelief when I saw the exact same mediocre fish stick commercial airing twice, each time for a different brand.
The identical commercial, mind you: one with a Van de Kamps product shot, another with a Mrs. Paul’s.
Look, it’s like if Coke and Pepsi started airing the same TV spots. Actually it’s worse. Because the venomous rancor in the frozen fish stick industry is arguably the world’s most venomous (and rancorous).
(Little-known fact: Mrs. Paul travels to Amsterdam every summer to personally spit on the grave of Ulysses R. Van de Kamp.)
Anyway, I did some digging, and it turns out both companies are owned by the same parent conglomerate, Pinnacle Food Group, LLC.
So they must have thought: hey, we’ve already got one incredible commercial (which is actually pretty insipid), why bother to produce another one?
Why, you ask? Who cares? Capitalism cares.
See, if companies start doing this, the whole illusion of brand differentiation is going to evaporate.
Sure, it’s the same product sold by both companies.
It’s probably made in the same factory from the same ingredients by the same underpaid workers.
But do we really have to emphasize that fact by running the same freaking commercial?
It’s either the boldest move in corporate history, or the most cynical.
10 bucks says it’s haddock.
Tags: Deja Vu, Fishy Aftertaste