Vagueness in ads

[LadyBarbossa]

I like to watch the local classifieds just to see what's out there, keep my options open, etc. Specifically with horses. We're strongly considering right now selling the four we have and I'd like to just get a nice, broken in one that I can have for pleasure riding. And it's really irritating to see things like

Horse for sale. Brown and white. Call 555-5555


Uh, sure. Brown and white doesn't really help me. Is it male, female, gelded, a stud? Is it broke to ride or drive? Blind in one eye and can't see out the other? How tall is it? How old? Working horse or a geriatric needing a quiet home to spend it's final years? The fact that he/she is brown and white isn't really that important to me in the grand scheme of things.


Horse. Rides, drives, great with kids. 555-5555.

Oh yay, it's trained! And while I don't have any kids, the fact that the horse is good with them at least tells me it's gentle. Can't get too excited though, because usually if I do call on the ad, I find out it's nothing more than an overlarge Shetland pony.

It's the same with other things, like "free puppies, cute". Nice . . . or "Car for sale. Call Bubba."

I'm just more likely to skip over these ads and latch onto the ones that were actually placed with some thought and care. Geez.

[HYHYBT]

"Other things" including job listings. I just can't bring myself to trust an ad that says neither who you'd be working for nor what sort of job it is.

Of course, many professionally-done TV ads for very well-off companies do the same intentionally: though they name the product, they leave it up to you to guess what it's supposed to be for.

[Smithereens]

I'm frustrated by vague ads too. It happened when I was looking for a new computer and is now pissing me off when I'm trying to compare prices of apartments and cars.

[BlaqueKatt]

"Other things" including job listings. I just can't bring myself to trust an ad that says neither who you'd be working for nor what sort of job it is.

I don't have as much trouble "trusting" those type of ads, however; not everyone has a car, and it's a waste of both my time and theirs to apply for a job I couldn't get to by bicycle, walking, or public transportation. Heck I've seen ads that stated "job in big city", but come to find out it's actually "job in small town 25 miles from big city" Huge difference.

[Ginger Tea]

On the job adverts front, the Job Centre never listed Driving Licence / Own car at the top, I would read a job title, read the first bit, seems relevant, copy code down, then see almost at the end, Must have current clean driving licence (and own car)
and not being a car owner or even driven one I find myself wasting time reading em.

I havn't been looking for a new job but last I looked they were basically this

Job Title
Hours
Wage

waffle

why couldn't they just add a line that stated a deal breaker like that?
Mind you the ones I had problems with were before they had those touch screen jobbies with thermal printouts.

[muses_nightmare]

I've been job hunting the past couple of months and vague ads annoy the crap out of me. I do a lot of searching on Craigslist for jobs, but if a company doesn't bother putting the actual name of the company and they won't tell me if I send them a message asking what it is there is no way I'm sending them my information. I had one guy just respond with "just send resume" when I asked the name of the company. Yeah, that's not sketchy at all . I agree on the car part as well, I don't really drive, me and the BF have a car but he's usually the one using it, so I take transit. Let me know a car is required or if taking transit is not an option.

[blas87]

I love the ads for used cars....even dealerships are vague.

"Lots of newer used cars 2003-2008, good condition"

[HYHYBT]

I don't have as much trouble "trusting" those type of ads, however; not everyone has a car, and it's a waste of both my time and theirs to apply for a job I couldn't get to by bicycle, walking, or public transportation. Heck I've seen ads that stated "job in big city", but come to find out it's actually "job in small town 25 miles from big city" Huge difference.

So why *don't* they say who they are or what the job is?

(and yes, that's a huge difference!)

[Ginger Tea]

I love TV ads that have little or nothing to do with the product, you watch this advert and love it cos its funny or surreal, yet for the life of you you have no idea what you are meant to be urged to buy.

One I saw on an advert based show, showed either a UK or USA advert that blended into half a dozzen generic adverts with the main advert guy running through all of em, never knew the product and I'm thinking it was a UK one as I'm sure I saw it more than the once via the clip show.

off topic:
best advert I ever saw but it wasn't vague was a pringles rockband 7 minute jobbie before seeing Paranormal Activity, TBH that advert was way better in every respect than the movie I paid to see.

[ZedOmega]

Gotta chime in on this one. There's a flyer at the bar looking for actors and extras for a low-budget film, but no contact info. Sure, it's a good opportunity for someone who wants a little bit of acting cred, but without a phone number or email address, it's just a decoration...

[AdminAssistant]

Sure, it's a good opportunity for someone who wants a little bit of acting cred, but without a phone number or email address, it's just a decoration...

Porn. Or a dumb film student.

But more likely, porn.

[Rapscallion]

I love the ads for used cars....even dealerships are vague.

"Lots of newer used cars 2003-2008, good condition"

To be fair, some of those are because they have limited space to advertise, limited attention span of the audience, and they have to get across the message that they may have what you want. I think the medium is a factor in the process of adverts like that.

Rapscallion

[Giggle Goose]

To be fair, some of those are because they have limited space to advertise, limited attention span of the audience, and they have to get across the message that they may have what you want. I think the medium is a factor in the process of adverts like that.

Rapscallion

That's why I use Craigslist

[HYHYBT]

Porn. Or a dumb film student.

But more likely, porn.

I'm not sure how a film's being porn negates the necessity for those interested in participating having a way to contact those seeking to hire them.

[LadyBarbossa]

That's why I use Craigslist

*ahem*





Yes indeed, very informative, lol. Not saying that all CL users are like this, but I've run across far too many like it. What color the dog or horse is, but nothing else.