How Much Prankvertising Can We Endure?

Just read an article in Adweek critiquing the new Bosch silent vacuum spot.

For the most part, I agree with Adweek’s opinion. If I weren’t in advertising and didn’t know better, I would have assumed it were kinda-kinda real. But seriously, they’re putting so little effort into making these things seem legitimate and real. At times it was contrived to a point I thought it was an actual parody of prankvertising. Was it a prank on the prankers? I was expecting some sort of twist besides the one they obviously intended.

What would have vastly improved the spot would be if they were to poke fun at their own lameness. Obviously it’s not real. They should have gone over-the-top with it. Then there would be comedy, and then I’d find the ad to be cool. Yet they don’t quite cross that border and the ad remains “meh”.

However, contemplating on this has got me thinking. When will prankvertising finally become unentertaining? What will surpass it? Will it evolve? We all like trashy reality TV for a reason, and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Or maybe we’ll start introducing scripted drama commercials instead. Who knows.