Nope!                                                            

TOO CLEVER, INDIRECT, MESSAGE HIDDEN, KEEPS THE READER WAITING TOO LONG FOR THE PAYOFF

It’s hard to tell what this ad is about. This illustration doesn’t do it; it’s a lovely scene that simply shows the results of being late and missing an appointment, but you wouldn’t even know that without more effort than most readers are likely to give an ad. The headline is mostly a play on the word ‘fashionable’ – clever if you know what it refers to, but this also takes more effort. The copy finally introduces the product, but even then it is not until the last line that the theme is tied together – never keep anyone waiting. Perhaps even riskier, the focus of this ad is negative on what you don’t want it to be rather than what you do want it to be, making it something the reader would not want to identify with. Recall was only ½ the product norm and 40% of Ad B (Indiglo Dial).

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