When Advertising Works Too Well

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What happens when your advertising works too well? Just ask Pacific Bell.

It's a heated debate between which is better: Cable or DSL. Pac Bell turned to Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, an Omnicom Group, to persuade consumers that DSL is the way to go.

The result: Neighborhood - a wacky commercial showing a peaceful street in total disarray because all of the neighbors are sharing cable-modem bandwidth.

Truth is, cable modem usage isn't really a problem. There isn't a huge amount of subscribers sharing a co-axial cable line and if there is a heavy volume of traffic, most cable companies are quick to remedy the situation.

So while the ad depicts a good neighborhood turned bad, it's really an exaggeration of a minuscule problem. However, the difference between cable and DSL is a gray area for a majority of the population. So this ad provides a witty and humorous look into potential problems with a cable modem.

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