Does anyone else find Brinks commercials annoying?

[pittspilot]

I just saw the new Brinks home security commercial, and it drives me even more nuts then the last one.

The last one had two people being woken up in the middle of the night, with an outside shot showing the perpertrator fleeing. The phone rings, and the panicked women answers, at which time after a little bit of conversation, the Brinks representative offers to call the police.

The new one has a mother and her two young kids getting ready to sit down for a movie, when some assilant attempts to enter the house by breaking glass. The mother runs the kids upstairs, and then sticks a chair underneath the door. The phone rings, and the same conversation as the last takes place.

The whole tone of the commercial is that Brinks solves all the problems. Give me a break. Poor defenceless sheep, waiting for the Brinks to call, ARRRRRGGGGGGG.

I know, I shouldn't let it bug me. Alarms do have there usage, it just would be nice to see the woman run upstairs, grab a twelve gauge, station herself at the top of the stairs, and tell the Brinks guy that the loud shot will indicate the need for medical services for said intruder.

 

[Jeff White]

Haven't seen the new one yet. But it sounds like it will make me wretch too. I always hated the first one..there is the Brinks guy in some dispatch center maybe several hundred miles away, all snazzy in his white police type uniform shirt and badge. And the tone in the womans voice, like this mall ninja wannabe just saved her family. :barf:

In the meantime hubby is going down stairs to check things out, without so much as a flashlight. Why don't they show hubby racking one in the 870?

And they never mention the dirty little secret of how the operators of these alarm centers have been known to give the police the wrong address. Having been sent on a few wild goose chases to a street address that is on the wrong end of town or even to a non-existant address by these monitoring companies, I recommend you call 911 yourself. Even if you are too incoherent to blurt out your address, the enhanced 911 will give the dispatcher your address.

Jeff

 

[KSFreeman]

And, class, who does Brink's call?

Yes, you with the Van Dyke in the back of the class with your "Molon Labe" baseball cap pulled down over your forehead?

That's right--men with guns, THE POLICE. Gold star for you.

 

[Ryder]

Extremely annoying

If the bad guy was there to harm them then they would have been harmed, nothing about an alarm system would prevent that.

I've got a 4 foot screen and half of it is filled with fine print on the closing shot.. Any clue what that disclaimer says? I can't read a word of it.

 

[Monkeyleg]

For over a decade I've had ADT security at my business. (Pretty much the same system as Brinks).

On the first install, the salesman was walking me through how everything works. "Here's the main panel, the telephone line junction, etc, etc..."

So, I asked, "how would an experienced burglar defeat this?"

His answer really surprised me. "The burglar would just rip the main panel off the wall, and the alarm company would just receive a disconnect or AC-power trouble signal."

Yep. Really reassuring.

 

[BamBam]

Commercial goes something like:

"A man was trying to get in our house. I pushed the Brinks PANIC BUTTON. The alarm went off and the man went away."

How tidy.

 

[Morgan]

Not to mention that such alarms are among the lowest priority calls for most police departments.

 

[Coronach]

Morgan, exactly.

The fastest I ever responded to a burglar alarm was about 5 minutes from the time the alarm went off to the time I marked on scene. It was amazing...the monitoring company waited the prerequisite time for a cancel code...called the house...no answer, called us....we were dispatched right away, and were just around the corner.

And...it was a real burglary.

And they were long gone before we got there.

5 minutes.

Most of our response times are in the tens of minutes. You do the math.

I HATE those commercials.

Mike

 

[Jeff White]

One of the first things they told me when I started; "we don't run 10-33 (lights, sirens, fast) to burglar alarms. It's not worth anyone's life to get to a false alarm."

A call from a neighbor that someone has kicked in the door and entered the house gets a fast response. A call from the alarm company gets the normal, eveyday response.

Call the police yourself...cut out the middleman. The alarm company is only a delay in getting you help.

Jeff

 

[Mike Irwin]

"Brinks solving the whole problem..."

Of course it is.

They're ADVERTISING their own company.

Do you think they'd be advocating pepper spray or a handgun in their commercials?

Of course not.

They're a business selling a service.

If they start showing alternatives, they might lose customers.

Ever see a Ford commercial touting a Chevy Malibu as an alternative to a Contour? Of course not.

 

[sm]

I saw it-stupid.
I have dealt with alarms local, high tech, expensive, to keep the Ins. Co. happy-required for the business.

My mom and some other elderly ladies had me come to the sales pitch a certain alarm presented. Perfect "prey" tactics, guilt, stats, etc. $50.00 min. a month, and they are out of state.

About halfway I said" Whoa Stop. Quit taking advantage of the old folks. For that kind of money they can get a cell phone and a shotgun, while waiting for police. Get instructions, take a course, and have the local guys put in a system for audible. Truth is alarm keeps and honet man honest". I even suggested two sisters living next door just get wirless system to alert each other.

Oh there is a place for alarms I agree...but this kind of stuff advertised is misleading, false sense of security...

 

[Jeff White]

I realize that they are selling a service.....

...but a little truth in advertising is in order here. A more realistic commercial would be the family away from home enjoying a vacation...a fire breaks out and the Brinks dispatcher gets the Fire Department there in time to save the goldfish...

They are playing to peoples fear of crime and selling an unrealistic expectation of the protection their systems offer. It's fear mongering plain and simple.....It just encourages people to think that they don't have to take any resposibility for themselves.

Jeff

 

[Tamara]

We used to have the TV running on the Weather Channel constantly in the pilot's lounge at my old job.

Every time those corny ADT commercials came on where the chick says "I will not be afraid of the dark!", I'd yell "Because I just bought a Mossberg!"...

 

[sm]

Just spilled my tea...

Tamara, LMAO, why? My MOM, TV on -said commercial comes on and she "pets" the shotgun I got her and raises the cell phone-her words "I've never been afraid of the dark, I'm sure not now!!"

I have created a sulf sufficient elderly person--

 

[Airwolf]

...It just encourages people to think that they don't have to take any responsibility for themselves.

BINGO!

[sarcasm] Oh I can't possibly do anything. I have to leave that up to the Police, I might get in trouble if I do something like oh, say, DEFEND MYSELF AND MY FAMILY.[/sarcasm]

 

[Archer1440]

Considering that I saw the same ad, and immediately had the SAME reaction as the first post, I suppose, at the least, those of us who take personal responsibility for our own safety understand that if you call the police, then 5 minutes later, call Domino's, there might be a slice left for the responding officer- and it's NOT their fault either.

 

[Mike Irwin]

Please tell me where they're being false in their advertising, Jeff.

They're not, no more so than Ford ads making it seem as if Ford makes the only family sedan on the market.

The concept you're looking for is educational advertising. It's not going to happen with something like this. That's what Consumer Digest or Consumer Reports is for.

Brinks is simply omitting what WE feel to be a viable alternative to home protection.

I'm sure the people at National Vault, Door, and Safe Room feel the same way.

"It just encourages people to think that they don't have to take any resposibility for themselves."

Well, you're almost there.

That's EXACTLY what the company wants people to think, but only after they take the responsibility of purchasing a Brinks system.

 

[Hal]

Yes.

 

[seeker_two]

A loud dog....free at the local animal shelter.

A nosy neighbor...free w/ the neighborhood (& the occasional peanut brittle at Christmas.

A used Stoeger 12ga. double barrel coach gun...$250.

The look of a burglar who realizes that his day got just a leettle more difficult....PRICELESS.

For everything else....there's SMITH & WESSON.

 

[foghornl]

Brinks ads annoying ? ? ?
:barf: :barf: :barf: :barf:

I already have early warning from my X-10 motion detectors, chimes, and MD controlled floodlights/vidcams. By the time the BG(s) get close enough to break glass, I have the "Welcome Wagon" ready...and it ain't 'tea & crumpets'.