Welcome to the 1st post of When Advertising Fails.
The following advertisement was taken from my local paper a few weeks ago, the Whitehorse Leader. It illustrates how a low budget can cost greatly in effectively delivering your message. The lack of budget being the lack of colour in the ad.
Below, is how the Fire Danger Ratings are expressed effectively on the Country Fire Authority (CFA) website.
The lesson to be learned: don’t skimp on the budget when advertising. Or if you must, at least review the ad prior to it going live. The lack of colour in said advertisement renders it virtually useless.
Advertisement Effectiveness: 3/10 (for lack of proofreading)
While it may not look pretty it still gets the message across. The colour of each category is irrelevant.
The important part of each category is the word, over the radio/on tv they are referred to as Extreme Fire Danger etc…
That being said, one could argue that the shading of each category is also effective. Lightest -> darkest.
@Anonymous
Indeed you are correct, however I would argue that the advertisement does lose an element of impact and effectiveness without the colour to back it up.
Unless it was in intentional ploy in order to target those who are colour-blind, going full colour would benefit at the trade-off of a minimal increase in price. I think it's more likely that it was a detail which was overlooked, and that's why it featured in my When Advertising Fails series.