I just saw two new Fasttelco ads and I think they are of really bad taste. The one above shows a dead bat bleeding while the other one shows a bat screaming in pain as it crashes through a window. These have to be the most horrendous ads Fasttelco have ever released. Check them out on ads2blog.com [Link]
Update: I just got an email from someone at Fasttelco telling me these ads were never and would never be released by them and that they were never approved. Ads2Blog have also updated the original post stating that the ad was done by an Art Director and “were never meant to see the light nor get publishedβ. I guess that makes a lot more sense now. Its good to know Fasttelco haven’t completely lost it.
67 replies on “Dead Bats”
I just dont get it !? ;/
I tried to look at it with an open mind but I just don’t understand the symbolism going on here? What is the bat for? Why had it been killed? It’s not about hitting a wall, as the other one crashed through a window… mmm. Not sure about the bad taste, but crap adverts nonetheless.
…and I’m pretty sure on the first one “Class A” needs to be on the same line, that didn’t read too well.
their idea is that the bats radar malfunctioned and it ended up getting killed.
ah, ok, and if he had hi-speed internet then he wouldn’t have hit the wall… I see ;o)
Still don’t like it
Hold your horses… These are not ads, they look more like individual expressions of some creative guy. I never saw them in the media ayways, it could be hoax? I do like the art direction though, the mood and tonality is well done! Keep it up guys!!
Miscommunication ?
are they trying to say that all that is written on the ad about them is wrong?
this is benetton all over again …!
omg! are you serious! .. what makes it this ad even worst is the no parking zone!
now FT will come and complain about hostility in this discussion.
Mark,
I am starting to believe that you have some kind of issue with fast telco, you are either criticizing their service or their ads π
Its becoming very personal
Well their idea of using bats is fine as long defining miscommunication. It is true especially for bats that if they miscommunicate they end up on the wall. That means sending data and receiving and since bats are blind they depend on sound and hearing. So they send msgs using voice signals and receive them from the echos of hard objects reflecting back. Now lets go back to reality, as human beings you don’t end up dead if you use the internet or a certain ISP cause they all provide the same services mostly. I think these ads should be used for the new Batman movie, discovery channel or even animal planet.
It kinda remindeed me of 6 feet under ! or dexter for all that matters
i think it is very creative and dark art
I do not get those ads, very illogical, and I bet it has been copied from some other international ad and edited, I would be interested in finding the original ad.
Obscure symbolism (bats/Internet) + An idea in bad taste (death/blood) = A complete waste of advertising money.
Someone should get the boot.
AceJ I don’t think I’ve ever posted something that was anti-fasttelco.
Check the archives:
https://248am.com/?s=fasttelco&x=0&y=0
Actually I just checked, last time I posted something negative about FT was their ad in which they were copying apple. The other negative posts were by k.thekuwaiti who posts here every now and then.
I don’t understand the message the ad is trying to portray? Bad communication? Hmm… not a job well done.
Mark:
Don’t underestimate the readers man..we all know why sometimes you let follow bloggers start a topic on your blog..i think its called politics.
Copying Apple ads…well if they did, then they did a good job.. these ads created a lot of debate between advertising professionals and i know for sure that Marina FM had to stop the radio version of these ads under pressure from other ISPs.
Oh and by the way..all you creative guys do is copy each other π right?
okay….thats retarded!! :S
AceJ, i dont know where you get your information from but i only let my friends post on this blog and not fellow bloggers. These friends are free to post whatever they please, it has nothing to do with politics or what i want.
If you have any feedback about the post regarding the apple ads vs fasttelco you can leave a comment on that post. Creative people don’t copy ads, that wouldn’t make them creative. But it seems you are fine with the idea of copying though.
Note: I have no reason to hate or like Fasttelco. I actually use FT at work, Qualitynet at home and Wnet and eGo for my mobile internet. I also dont mind kems since they were the first isp i used back in 95. Now United Networks, those i do have a personal hate towards but thats due to the lousy experience i have had with them.
Mark:
Nothing personal man but you have to be creative to able to copy.. “Copying” by itself is an “Art” that require “Creativity”..so if you are not creative you won’t be able to copy, try googling “Copy”
example:
Lets take the mods you are planing to do on your Jeep..you are coping the guy who originally came out with this mod..and that guy was copied by another creative guy that thought this might to be a money maker so he made kits and started selling them for people like you..which makes him the most creative of all three of you.
Using Qnet at home thats “Personal preference”, using eGo on the go is “Politics” , using FT at work is ” Obligatory”
its not obligatory, i can have it changed if i want π
Woow so ur a big head at work….no don’t change it otherwise you and your colleagues will end up like the Bats in FT Ads π
I can imagine how that would look… does that me creative?
lol
correction:
I can imagine how that would look⦠does that MAKE me creative?
I think the ads awesome.
i like the “dark – mysterious” kinda theme but they didn’t do it right! these ads are more mature than their previous ones bas i don’t get it too!
Cool Ad…..something a bit more daring than the usual dross that comes out of the shitty Kuwait Agencies.
Typical scenario: some Agaad smiling happily as he types into his shitty Home PC whilst being hugged by his wife / mistress.
*I doubt this AD was done here anyways*
Why fastteleco why i love bats they are my fav. pets now i am broken hearted ;@ where is WWF on this AD ;@ There is no animal respect and i can see a harmed bat on that pic
THIS AD SUCKS. there is nothing dark or mysterious about this?! some idiot just wanted his ad to look “deep” or well thought out (which it isn’t). any way, bleeding bats is not the way to go about it! oh might i add this is definitley not daring. more like, what’s the word……………idiotic and distastful. wtf does miscommunication have to deal with fasteleco any way?
I like the ad because its different, but the concept is just horrible.
Plus, my gut tells me that this image was taken from some place…
crocko rock,, says: (hugged by his wife / mistress),,
True.. those are the types of adds morons understand
Unite against animal cruelty.
Unite against depiction of animal cruelty.
WTF?! Creepy ad! People who aren’t realy into ads won’t get what it means!
This is out of topic, but I just thought I would share (most people probably got this by SMS like I did), Zain have reduced their price for MMS at 50 fils and Video call at 45 fils/min. Cool! π
if you know how the bat flies in the dark, u’ll understand the ad
what do you expect from TBWA LOL!
Moey:
Ya its seams they did not hire you ..i don’t think anybody would when you are using this “hire me” photo to promote your self
https://www.moeys.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/hire-me.jpg
Hehehehe
I think the ad is great and very bold..otherwise we would not have disscused it-another reason to disscus it is that Mark hates FT-and the fact that a lot of people did not get the idea makes me agree with Spike..it does look like a painting that needs u to stop and try to figureout what the artest wanted to say.
Personaly I like it as a work of art..and I might use it as an advertisment in magzains that are sophsticated like the ad itself.
I got a feeling that AceJ made this ad
execution was very nice, concept sucks ass though
hahah
funny as hell π
AceJ didn’t I tell you a few posts above that I have no issues with FT? Stop fucking bullshitting. The ad is a disaster, you think people don’t get it because they aren’t sophisticated enough? I can’t believe you actually think this ad is sophisticated. The ad is full of problems from terrible copy to one of the dumbest visuals ever. Unless you are targeting
Emo’s and Ozzy Ozbourne fans the visual of a bloody dead bat is just unbelievably inappropriate. You are supposed to always leave the ad viewer thinking positive of your brand instead when people think of FT now they will think of a bloody bat. Great idea!
Mark, jeez for once try and establish an ethical debate, you seem to get angry when somebody asks u something or the other, relax man, we do realize its your blog, and u own the space etc.. But if u were to continue like that, Id suggest you to turn the comments off, dont take it too personal, just an advice.
Marilyn Manson would fall for that ad.
Saw it on another blog, looked at it for a sec, did not get it, and continued to another topic .. my thoughts “Stupid ad”
Saw it again in here and only got the idea when i read the explanation above .. my thoughts “Condescending stupid ad”
I don’t hate fasttelco .. I just think their service is terrible.
AceJ, I worked at TBWA at some point, I even feel ashamed to put on my CV.
and that’s an image from my blog of a post that you didn’t even read, maybe because you don’t understand english?
Bobader just because I disagree with someone doesn’t mean I am angry. Jeez can’t I even have a debate with someone on my own blog? I am not going to turn off the comments, if you don’t like arguments and discussions just don’t read the comments its easy as that.
I gave good reason why this ad doesn’t work but if you feel it does thats just your prerogative.
Mark:
Since you are the creative guy here why don’t you analayze the ad. Am not an expert in this but am sure there is a pro way in criticizing somthing…you know..some variables that you analayze one by one to come to the conclusion that this ad suck -if it does-.
mono:
I don’t do ads..I just do people like Moey π
Moey:
U r the one who named the photo “hire me” the name is there on link go back and read the link, and by the way I think ur blog is stupid and it will only make harder for u to find a job..which am sure u won’t ….face it man even TBWA did not want.. I think they thought ur too sophsticated for them.
Bottom line…
Mark hates FT.. and i have disagree to keep the comment going.. i don’t care about FT or any other ISP..I don’t use the Internet so should u π
AceJ: I don’t usually analyze ads or show how to improve them because thats what I do for a living and my agency pays me for that knowledge. If I do it for free on the blog they would be losing out and I would be offering my services for free to the competition. But I will do an exception now and just roughly go into details. First lets view the large version of the ad
https://www.ads2blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/miscommunication-bb.jpg
Now the problems:
1) the image of a bloody dead bat in inappropriate, leaves the viewer with a negative feeling which they will now relate with the FT brand
2) the headline, miscommunication? according to them the information from the bats radar while on its way to the bat somehow got jumbled and fed the bat the wrong information. if they were trying to use that to symbolize bad internet, it doesn’t work. When 1’s and 0’s leave a server in the US, they either arrive to the internet user as the same 1’s and 0’s or they don’t. They don’t change on the way because of a bad internet connection. When was the last time you typed cnn.com and ended up with youtube.com? When was the last time you tried watching a video on YouTube but instead ended up downloading a torrent? You don’t get that kind of miscommunication. So everyone viewing the ad won’t relate to what they are talking about.
3) the body copy is not related to the rest of the ad. The body copy talks about being first which is not what the visual or headline are talking about.
4) the typography, the font used in the headline doesn’t relate to the mood and style of the visual. The line breaks in the body copy are in the wrong places and visually creates an uncomfortable paragraph to read specially since its also fully justified.
btw, advertising isn’t only about grabbing peoples attention and having them talk about the ad. thats easy to do, just take a picture of your asshole and place the picture in an ad and release it here in kuwait. people will talk about the ad for a long time, its very easy to grab peoples attention and be in the spotlight.
WoW!! Someone got paid thousands and thousands of dinars for this sh*t?!!!
Very well written Mark.
This is sophistication.
Not a blot of blood on a wall with a poor bat with a bloody nose.
Mark:
I like it when u don’t publish the comments that u can’t answer back to, it only shows that I have a better argument than yours and u lack the courage to admit it, u can modrate the part u don’t like but not the whole post.
AceJ next time post under your same nickname and you won’t have your post deleted. Posting under Moey’s nickname is just stupid, I can tell its you from your IP address.
great…now how about publishing my answer to ur comments 50 and 51
i don’t think that’s true, am posting thru a public wifi at marina using my iphone so..u can go ahead and post it under my name if u still have it, otherwise I will posted again later as am runingout of battery, thanking u in advance
this ad is totally gay! if people keep on getting different views to the meaning of this ad, then the consistency of the msg they are trying to deliver is gay!
Mark:
To tackle post 50;
1) If the dead bat leaves the viewer with a negative feeling about FT then what does the blind guy in Zain leaves the viewer with… sympathy maybe?
2) Thats called “Exaggerated Graphic” try googling that.
3) I believe the creator of the ad answered saved me the explanation check it here https://www.ads2blog.com/2008/06/26/fasttelco-miscommunication/
4) read number 3
***EDITED BY ADMIN***
AceJ, in reply to your comment:
1) The Zain ad doesn’t make you pity or feel sad towards the blind guy. The ad doesn’t show you a car accident in which the guy is lying on the ground screaming in pain with glass shards in his eye and he is calling out for help. The Zain ad is a romance, it leaves the viewer on a positive note.
2) So what you are saying is that in this ad FT are talking about an Internet problem which doesn’t exist and no Internet user has ever experienced and then they tell everyone guess what? With FT you will never have to worry about this problem that doesn’t exist! Thats not “exaggerated graphic” that’s just misleading.
3) Yup make sense now since FT aren’t ignorant to go with an ad like this that can lose them customers and give people a negative image about their brand which they’ve worked so hard to build. I am sure the agency where the art director works at will probably get a warning from FT for causing them problems, misleading the consumers and damaging their brand.
4) Read number 3
guys! khalas! its becoming really childish.. RELAX!!
Mark about post 50. You should give advice to competition, does that mean you work for an internet company??
damn it!! should’ve read my comments before posting it! π
***post 50: you said something about giving advice to the competition.. so you work for an internet company right??
Fuck animal cruelty, fuck this ad, fuck AJ and most of all FUCK FT.
I think that the blog where this was originally posted (ads2blog) did (later) mention that these ads were drawn up but never released.
At any rate the one with the brain in it was a photoshopped 3d reformat of a spiral CT brain with a CGI brain overlay (the windowing levels (=numbers) on the right corner of the picture gave it away)
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Ace J; I left TBWA because they were nasty enough to hire me work on Nissan while they knew I work with another agency, they were desperate I could tell. I told my boss, who let me freelance for them then I told them btw, my boss knows I freelanced for TBWA.
You’d be insane to compare TBWA\Chiat\Day to the whole TBWA\RAAD combo lol.