PromZ Vak 4 · 2026 · English edition

By Ed van Eunen

Top or flop

What is the actual intention?

It happens regularly that the content of an advertisement is understood by the reader differently than the advertiser intended. Take, for example, this advertisement that appeared in the May issue of Las Vegas Magazine*, a sponsored publication aimed at tourists visiting Las Vegas. It concerns an outdoor swimming pool with 6 pools and a 143 ft screen on which you can watch sports matches while standing in the pool. Typically American. Overcrowded pools where people stand side-by-side watching all kinds of sports being shown simultaneously on the screen. Swimming laps is virtually impossible. And you also just have to hope you don't end up standing in the bright sun, because there isn't a single parasol to be seen in that large pool.

One person might consider a visit to such a pool a fine way to spend time (standing in the water and watching sports matches), while another would run away screaming, because with so many people at once, you don't want to be fighting for a spot in the pool. I suspect that Circa, the pool operator, meant the former, and I fear that many visitors did the latter. Perhaps I am mistaken (Americans remain crazy people), but I cannot shake the impression that with so much crowding, many people would simply prefer to look for another tourist destination. To me, this advertisement is a flop. You don't want that much crowding when you go to the pool. I am convinced that a much better advertisement would have been created with a different approach.

Can you prevent these kinds of mismatches? In other words, what must an advertiser do to avoid their wellintentioned message turning out exactly the opposite in practice? Start by putting yourself in the target audience's shoes. Would that advertisement appeal to you if you were the target audience? Also, show the ad design to, say, 10 or 20 people. What is their first reaction? Do they understand what the advertiser means and do they feel addressed by it? If the majority rejects the advertisement (or does not understand it), you know that you had better have a different advertisement designed with a different approach and a different image. If the verdict is more or less positive, you can safely place the advertisement. However, an advertisement that comes across differently to the consumer than the advertiser intended is a waste of money if you place it anyway.

*the swimming pool image shown on the right here is the same one that was used in the advertisement; however, the quality of the advertisement was too poor to display