As I was driving down the expressway last night to take my final exam at school, I couldn't help but notice that traffic was horrible. We were all crawling at a mere 20mph or less for quite a while. This gave me time to think of this idea.
My idea is for a tv commercial. It doesn't matter what product it's for, but it would probably work well with a product that is supposed to be very beautiful to look at. It should be a product which the general (driving) population can genuinely appreciate as a thing of beauty. If it's obviously not, it may or may not make for a funnier commercial, but this is the basic idea:
The commercial would show a huge traffic jam on the expressway, with a shot of the relevant billboard near by, featuring the company's product. It should be made obvious to viewers that the reason for the traffic jam is that all the drivers are compelled to marvel at this billboard with this mesmerizingly beautiful product. Perhaps a line could be included, like "{product name}, traffic-stoppingly beautiful" or whatever an appropriate saying would be for the chosen product.
Some examples of qualifying products could be: • a diamond or other expensive jewelry • a luxury automobile • designer barware, dinnerware, or flatware • an expensive pen • hair products (displaying a woman with really nice hair) • a delicious-looking dessert or meal-- XSarenkaX, Dec 13 2002 Likewise, in Italy http://newmodels.bl...models_archive.html"her billboard ads for Swish Jeans caused some traffic situations on Italian highways." - scroll down a bit. [dalek, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] I think this was done in the UK... wonderbra, perhaps?-- yamahito, Dec 13 2002 Ahh, the wonderbra. Of course. I haven't seen the commercial, but I'm not surprised to find that this simple idea has been used. If you can find a link, that would be great.-- XSarenkaX, Dec 13 2002 If you see something about an actual tv commercial featuring a traffic-stopping billboard, please post that link, too. I'm very interested.-- XSarenkaX, Dec 13 2002 I just want to clarify that I do not condone roadside gawking. I'm just giving ad wizards a brainstorm idea I had.-- XSarenkaX, Dec 13 2002 AGAIN, I am not trying to stop traffic. I despise gawkers and gaper delays. I do not condone the use of controversial billboards to stop traffic.
Remember what this idea really is and vote on the idea. The idea is a commercial kinda spoofing those damned gawkers - not about creating a real traffic problem by any means.-- XSarenkaX, Dec 16 2002 Don't all advertisements show people distracted by products? Oh, but wait! I get it, now they are driving!-- ImBack, Dec 16 2002 I keep thinking "brakes - brakes stop traffic".-- PeterSilly, Dec 18 2002 this has been done over and over and over and over again.-- Pericles, Oct 14 2005 How about a "delete this idea when you get home" button to speed up the traffic instead?-- xenzag, Oct 17 2005 Boy, that's a bit harsh. I see fishbones in your list, too, [xenzag].-- XSarenkaX, Oct 25 2005 Not meant to be nasty (sorry XS just my sense of humour) and it's true, I get plenty of fishbones - I seem to be a real bone magnet from time to time, but I also like to provoke people - it's just my nature( see my latest (Teeth of Wisdom). I actually like the look of the little fish. The Criossant is a pathetic symbol in comparision. Who wants to be a crowd pleaser? You can rip into one of mine any time - I can take it!-- xenzag, Oct 25 2005 "Yessir, we sell diamond stop signs, golden belicia beacons, mother of pearl traffic lights, lapis lazuli lollipop poles and faux custard speed bumps. As you can see, in field tests, all of our products stopped, or at least considerably slowed traffic with a 99% success rate."-- zen_tom, Oct 25 2005 OK, [xenzag]. The apology was marvelously crafted and well worth acceptance. You are more than forgiven.-- XSarenkaX, Oct 25 2005 random, halfbakery