Opera and techno do not make the sale

Opera music. I admit straight up that I truly and seriously am not a fan at all. I can appreciate the artistry in almost any type of music. I find value in someone having a craft and developing it to professional level.

But - I would NEVER spend money on anything opera. I know there's a faction of people out there who love it and I don't judge their collective quirkiness.

So, when I saw a recent, obnoxious television commercial using opera to sell me a car, I couldn't find the mute or DVR's fast-forward button quickly enough.

In the haste to prevent the music from embedding in my brain - and from being that pesky tune that's in my head all day, I accidentally flipped the channel. However, to my ears' dismay, the same blaring Italian traditional music was being used to sell me a car with the same commercial on yet another channel. Double, unavoidable overkill.

I don't get it. Why would a car company use opera, of all things, to try to entice me to their brand? It actually did the complete opposite and ended up repulsing me from their brand and forgetting the brand entirely.

Then, a week later, I had to make the remote-control dash again - this time to turn off blaring techno, dance-club music. Either you love it or hate it. However, if you hate it, then the advertiser's intended message is not reaching you.

Now - these were not just nuances of background music in either of these commercials. It was a 'story line' in commercials. Part of the 30-second plot. Part of the annoyance. A definite contributor to me flipping or muting.

I'd love to know what the ad rep's thought process actually was at the planning table when they chose to send a commercial with techno or opera (or any other subjective type of music) up to their client. Then, the hopefully required approval process plays in.

Before the ad actually aired, wasn't there someone in the advertising think tank who thought using opera to sell cars could turn some consumers off? Are we all so creatively squashed that no one ever wants to have a dissenting opinion any more? There must've been a dozen people who checked off on opera blasting in a commercial. Gads. It can't be that I'm the only opera disliker around.

It's evident many companies are now more desperate for our money. They're grasping. Wouldn't it be better for them to lower their advertising costs and maybe concentrate their budget on making safer - or more affordable - cars or other products?

Even evening news and home-builder promotion developers seem compelled to use just drum rants to convince me to watch that particular news or buy from that particular house-builder. Why is that?

Even on the radio, I find myself switching, because a commercial has used an elephant's trumpeting blare as a catch phrase to sell something. Believe me. If I were at the zoo and thought for a second an elephant would make that horrible sound in person, I'd be covering my ears. That's exactly what I do when I hear that sound from the speakers - cover my ears, via a station switch.

Ad people: Think about it for 30 seconds. Why do you choose techno, opera or constant drumming to make the sale? It's doing the exact opposite - I'm not spending my money on your product. Nor, can the ad be considered a success if I'm immediately turning your commercial off.