Last week AT&T announced that they want to “Rethink Possible” with a new company image moving forward. Part of this new campaign involved rolling out a few new commercials that you may have caught in rotation already. Now AT&T is opting to let go of their Verizon-bashing (for now) by ending it’s comparison ads, and hopefully Luke Wilson’s stint as spokesman along with them.
AT&T is instead going the route of showcasing their own products rather than the flaws of another company’s. This will still include many of the same advertising staples we have seen lately — such as surfing the web and talking on the phone simultaneously — but only presented with a positive slant towards AT&T rather than a negative slant towards Verizon. For the time being Verizon is dedicated to pumping more money into their “There’s a Map for That” ads (there is one on the TV as I write this), however, so the bitter battle will still continue.
I am in support of and respect AT&T’s move for opting to take the higher road and leaving the bickering behind them (though I suspect their specific reason for the switch was calculated to gain that opinion from people like me who are tired of all of the negative advertising). Verizon’s map is impressive, but they could take a page from AT&T’s book.
Both carriers offer Android phones, and it’s no secret the negative ad battle was spurred on by the initial folly of “Droid Does” ads aimed at the iPhone and it’s exclusive carrier. I’m sure there are opinions over which sports the better handsets, but with AT&T releasing locked down Androids and limiting the App market on their devices they haven’t gained the unanimous support of Android aficionados just yet.