Subjectivity

That's what advertising is all about. An ad that pleases one person can disgust the next.

But when your research is downgraded to a "lie" one day and then awarded for its greatness the next, I'm not so sure.

Recently NAD said that The Martin Agency's new ad-campaign for the retail giant Wal-Mart was wrong in claiming that the average consumer saves $2,500 a year by shopping at their stores.

Well, that's all right and good until you take a page from Hyundai's book and think about it: They could just as easily save $2,500 by NOT shopping at their stores.


And since the low-price wielding Goliath tends to force other retailers within 50 miles of its stores to also lower their prices, one could argue that $2,500 could be saved by simply shopping at their competitors.

"Save money. Live better." is a nice line. And I appreciate the anti-floating-smiling-happy-face-creature approach in favor of a more real, more personable approach. But it's pretty lofty to hang your hat on a slogan of saving people $2,500 a year. That's big Christmas bonus.

You save money by putting it in the bank.

And I don't think that's subjective.