Gambling ads hit the jackpot, used car salesmen stuck in cliché lane

Hitting the spot

It’s sad in two ways: First that South Africans believe there are fabulous shortcuts to success and wealth and second, that many people are so desperate for money, they see gambling as a way out… and end up worse off.

This dark side of betting is acknowledged in the small print somewhere at the bottom of print or video ads or in the hurried stream of words at the end of a radio spot.

It is also probably the advertising, which portrays the world of betting as a fun place where the shine always shines, where you can play exciting games and where winning is easy, which is part of the reason for the explosion in especially online gambling.

I am not going to moralise about that reality… Gambling may be an addiction and may destroy lives and families, but I am not here to sermonise, I am here to recognise effective marketing. And whatever you may think, the ads for online gambling are certainly hitting the spot.

They don’t appeal to me because I remember an old Irish family superstition that the only way you’ll win in the betting game is if you borrow the stake money. That’s happened to me twice in my life, so I know that, on the rare occasions when I do have a flutter, I get the money from someone else’s wallet (even if it is just a temporary loan and I have to pay it back, win or lose.)

Yet, I must say, the latest ad for Sunbet is really entertaining because it brings a bit of a story to the party.

We see Lebo, an exhausted, beat-up stuntman, as he wearily wades through his assignments, almost hearing the director’s “Cut, cut, cut!” in his dreams. But is a great production of little cameos from lookalike Indian Jones to ninja jumping to avoiding gangsters in a casino.

Finally, he springs out of a hot air ballon in a “wing suit” with the director’s instructions “don’t miss your mark!” ringing in his ears. Suddenly, a plane towing a Sunbet's banner reminds him that he’s been playing, so he whips out his phone and discovers he is a winner. Hitting the spot be damned!

As the production crew shakes their heads and he gets accused of “ruining the film”, Lebo is smiling because he’s a winner and can probably ditch the gruelling stuntman job.

The production is slickly done and provides some light entertainment in an over-the-top way… but at the same time reminds people that they, too, can win big.

Orchids for all concerned. Bet you didn’t expect that…

Devious

What I don’t expect, from a major South African brand, when it comes to advertising on the Net, is deviousness. Yet that is exactly what I have just encountered with webuycars.

As a petrolhead, I realise all the platforms I frequent monitor me and so I am not really that fussed about being served ads for cars. These pop up with regularity (thanks to programmatic digital advertising, one of the scourges of the modern world) no matter where I happen to be surfing.

Recently, reading a piece on the Bullsh*tter in a China shop, Donald Trump, there was a pop-up for webuycars. It attracted my attention because the cars it listed were bargains.

A Merc G-Wagon for R610, 000? A Porsche Boxster for less than R300k and a BMW 6 Series for just R93, 900. Amazing! Let me have a look!

That’s when I discovered the old-fashioned bait-and-switch scam is alive and well and being perpetrated by webuycars. Each one of the bargains I clicked on suddenly vanished. Poof! To be replaced by a “Sorry. Looks like we don’t have what you were looking for”.

Really? Of course you don’t, you scam artists.

Then there is the offer: perhaps you might be interested in these? And the other offer to set up a query for a car make and model you’re interested in.

It’s click bait and tacky click bait at that, webuycars. That’s why you get an Onion from me. Sorry if that wasn’t what you were looking for.

If you have to resort to deception to get me in the metaphorical door of your establishment, how can I believe anything you tell me about the quality of your cars…. Like it’s never been in an accident, never had the odometer turned back and was only driven by a little old lady to church on Sundays…

No wonder used-car salespeople have such a bad name.