Twitter launched a new TV ad campaign last night, with a loud, garish and cartoony spot. But has the confusing mash-up alienated people new to the social network?
Designed to promote the Twitter Moments feature (currently only available in the US) , the TV ad aired during a break at the World Series.
A selection of baseball-related tweets were featured in the ad, but the tweets appeared so quickly in the lively sequence that some took to the web to express bewilderment.
One Twitter user tweeted, “That Twitter commercial was *really bad*. Can’t imagine anyone feeling invited to use the service or see the value after seeing the spot.”
That Twitter commercial was *really bad*. Can’t imagine anyone feeling invited to use the service or see the value after seeing the spot.
— Jason Stoff (@jstoff) October 28, 2015
And blogger John Gruber described it as “incomprehensible”, going so far as to say: “Someone should be fired.”
Twitter’s ad during the World Series: incomprehensible. Someone should be fired.
— John Gruber (@gruber) October 28, 2015
Some were positive about the broadcast, though. “That Twitter commercial is pretty cool,” tweeted one viewer.
That Twitter commercial is pretty cool. Caused me to jump on it so it must have worked…lol
— Chiefs Fan For Life (@Ariggs24) October 29, 2015
While another summed up the whole ad nicely:
Twitter is incomprehensible to outsiders, so of course they made a completely incomprehensible TV ad. https://t.co/6QJ8pnaVM7
— Tom Gara (@tomgara) October 28, 2015
The ad certainly caught people’s attention, and it is possible that this was just Twitter’s first step. A follow –up commercial could try to simplify things for non-Twitter users everywhere.