There is a commercial that annoys me because its tag line is just plain stupid. OK, there are probably several commercials like that, but I just saw the one for Smucker’s this morning. You know Smucker’s –it makes jam and jelly. It is widely available. It may even be good (if you happen to like a little High Fructose Corn Syrup in your jam). But Smucker’s assumes that you and everyone else on the planet thinks Smucker’s is good. They can be forgiven for that, after all, they are in the business of promoting their product. What I can’t fathom is why they think their name conveys the goodness of their product. Smucker’s? It looks remarkably like a word in Yiddish that is not exactly complimentary. And yet, the company’s marketers tell us: With a name like Smucker’s, it has to be good. I am left thinking, really? Why? What is it about the NAME Smucker that makes it good? Is Smucker will known for all the good things he did? Am I missing something? If the tag simply said: With Smucker’s, it has to be good, then I would buy it. But the name is meaningless to me and other than we know that Smucker’s makes jams, we don’t know from the name alone that they are good.
Do you have a tag line that makes you wonder or even cringe? Let me know in the comments!
About Deborah Brody
Deborah Brody writes and edits anything related to marketing communications. Most blog posts are written under the influence of caffeine.
