Recently, Home Depot began spreading a message asking consumers to visit its website and vote for their favorite among three 30-second TV commercials. According to the company, more than 400,000 people quickly showed up to vote, with the total expected to run much higher.

The main website offers consumers a chance to view the three contending consumer-generated advertisements, along with headline and brief copy encouraging them to participate, and a graphic representation of the current standings among the three contenders:

The three ads -- “Indecision”, “Love It!” and “Front, Side, Back” -- are largely composed of the same visual and voice-over elements, although in different sequences:

Strategic Note: The main differences between these three look-alike advertisements are found in the portrayal of the male character’s inability to choose among the three brands of tractor. In one, he simply cannot decide. In another, he expresses love for the tractors that rivals his love for his wife. And in the third, he tries to justify taking home all three machines.

Essentially, consumers are asked to choose on the basis of slight differences between highly competitive and roughly equal ads-- very similar to the choice that stumps the male character in the advertisements themselves. Home Depot apparently feels it has nailed the major characteristics that will please its customer base and is comfortable limiting its offerings within that narrow range. Has management considered that the company’s targeted consumers may echo the character’s inability to pick just one of these three?