Ads That Feature Fly Fishing: Good Lord!


If you're an advertising agency (or an advertiser that has hired an agency) that has chosen to show your actors fly fishing in your "life-style" type ad (which usually include either grandkids and/or buddies), you should pay attention to the following rules:

1.) Hire a good looking guy who is a fly fisherman!
Get rid of the actors who don't know jack about fly fishing... you know, the ones with the graying temples, the chiseled jaws and the limp-wristed casts. Some of these dreamy actors suck so badly you know they picked up a fly rod for the first time the morning of the shoot. Here's an idea: If you can't hire a fisherman, pay some expert to TEACH your actor how to cast. If you want authenticity and to connect with your audience, some dude in a silly hat throwing a huge, wide, sloppy-ass loop with his arms stretched out as far as they will go in front of him doesn't work! It looks ridiculous!.  

2.) Get real fly fishing gear! 
Don't use a 40's style thick-as-a-broomstick spinning rod mounted with a fly reel on a small trout stream and then throw it with a bobber! Are you listening Symbicort? It just looks absurd. Again, these ads probably cost a fortune to make, so HIRE SOMEONE!!... anyone: hire a guide, a shop owner, a guy you drag off a river. Anyone who fly fishes could help you. Who the hell are your technical advisors? Make one call to a fly shop. It would cost you virtually nothing and their help would make your ad 100% better. Stop embarrassing yourselves!

3.) Don't portray the actors in your advertisement to be of questionable sexual orientation!
Don't put a bunch of gorgeous actors shoulder to shoulder on a river and have them smiling at each other like they just buddy-bonded while they limp-wristedly make 2000 false casts... especially if you're telling us they have to pee really badly because of an enlarged prostate. 

4.) Don't make your ads so bad that at the end of my criticism of fly fishing ads I just start ranting!
If your selling an anti-depressant, maybe your actors are actually depressed because they cast so poorly. Sure they are getting paid for this ad, but if they couldn't dribble AT ALL, would you put them in a basketball commercial. It would be depressing to make such a fool of yourself! Think of your actors. They have to go home. Are they being made fun of by their fishing friends? The message to the consumer is: I'm depressed because I look like an idiot. Maybe, instead of considering an anti-depressant, you should CONSIDER A CASTING LESSON!