Having been a copywriter from time to time myself, I am rarely surprised at the gambits people will use to get their products or services noticed in the free-for-all that is television advertising these days. However, I have to say that I was startled to see the current Verizon campaign for their V Cast music service. It’s kind of the opposite of advertising, as if a competitor was surreptitiously producing ads with their name on it.

OK, for those of you who haven’t seen it, here is the basic idea. Somebody comes over to you (you being the person sharing the point of view of the camera) and puts their headphones on your head in order to let you listen to some new song they’ve downloaded.

So far, horrible, but well within the boundaries of the advertising world.

But here’s the kicker: the person who wants to share music is really, uncontrovertibly annoying. In one ad, it is this sweaty jock guy and you are in a gym. He sort of dances around while you are allegedly listening to his terrible music–then, get this–he gets a call and takes away the headphones. So Verizon apparently believes that not only do you want to have some sweaty idiot dancing in front of you in the gym, you want him to interrupt you and take a call.

The other version features a sort of hipsterish fool who does the same thing, only at a dog park. This time he dances around to Justin Timberlake, and again takes a call, and to add insult to injury, talks to his dog.

I feel confident that Verizon has locked in the I-love-to-be-annoyed-by-idiots demographic, but I have faith that the American people in general will fail to be moved by this weird masterpiece of reverse advertising.