When is an Advert Not an Advert?

Never, is the answer.

On the radio the other day I heard an advert for a Japanese car manufacturer (they’re not getting free advertising from me) that proudly stated: “we don’t need a fancy advert”. The statement seemed to say ‘Our product stands on its own’ and apparently it wasn’t their job — you know, the company that got paid millions to create a marketing campaign for this product — to…