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CNN, LA Times

DirecTV Told to Pull Ad Campaign Featuring Rob Lowe — Here’s a Look Back on the Actor’s Various Alter-Egos

Apr 8, 2015  •  Post A Comment

You may have seen those “Hi, I’m Rob Lowe, and I have DirecTV” ads, featuring “normal” and “creepy” or “awkward” versions of the actor and contrasting DirecTV with cable. But you may have seen the last of them, after DirecTV has been requested by the Better Business Bureau to pull the campaign.

CNN Money reports that the bureau made the recommendation after finding that the satellite company could not substantiate some of the claims made in the ads. The move followed a complaint by cable provider Comcast.

“DirecTV claims in the spots that its service gets 99% signal reliability, up to 1080p HD programming, better picture and sound quality than cable, more sports programming than its rivals and shorter customer service wait times than its cable competitors,” CNN reports. “It also said it was rated No. 1 in customer satisfaction.”

The report adds: “In most cases, the Better Business Bureau National Advertising Division review board agreed with Comcast and urged DirecTV to pull or modify the ads.”

Among the findings, the review board found that a claim in the “far less attractive” Rob Lowe ad that DirecTV’s picture and sound quality top cable was unsupported, as was a claim in the “scrawny arms” Rob Lowe spot that DirecTV offers more sports programming, the story reports. On the other hand, claims of 99% signal reliability and up to 1080p picture held up, the report notes.

The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that DirecTV had already closed the book on the Lowe campaign.

“DirecTV has ended the popular and highly effective ad campaign, moving on to a new series of spots last weekend that feature Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue cover model Hannah Davis and a talking horse,” the Times reported. “That’s sad news for fans of Lowe’s ads, but perhaps good timing for the El Segundo satellite TV provider.”

Here’s a compilation of the various DirecTV Rob Lowes:

5 Comments

  1. 99% signal reliability held up? My DirecTV went out with every hard rain – which was frequently where I live.

    • And my Comcast goes out with every thunderstorm, which is frequent where I live. What’s your point? Maybe we both need to move?

  2. Not that I’m some kind of Comcast fanboy but at least my cable has never gone out due to a weather related event for as long as I can remember. So I’ve no idea where either of you live but if that’s the best I could hope for I would most certainly move.

  3. Give me hottie Hannah Davis and her well endowed talking horse lover any day of the week.

  4. While I can understand if Direct TV was airing false information, why is Rob Lowe being prosecuted for only reading the script? I thought he was great and now I see that Direct Tv is starting again to run the same type of ads. As for Comcast, THE CASH COW, they have no room to talk. They are so powerful that they control what you watch…including a lot of Dumbing Down America Reality Shows.

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