Now in month 10 of unemployment, I have taken up a new pastime: commercial heckling. I often find myself screaming at television ads, or more specifically, screaming at the creative teams behind the ads. “What the hell were you thinking?” is the most common jeer, but in a close second is the ever-popular, “I could…
Read MoreChildren and Animals
It’s been suggested that a well-placed dose of adorable goes a long way in helping to sell a product. Take, for example, Oscar Mayer hot dogs. Get a kid with a few missing teeth to smile and exclaim that they wish they were a weiner and it’s advertising gold. Get a guy in a grubby…
Read MoreKitty want to get high?
Ever wonder what it would be like if you were a cat on LSD? Me neither. However, Friskies seems to think that taking your cat on a wild dance through fields of baby chickens at each meal is a key selling point. If this looks at all familiar to you, perhaps you recall the extra-trippy…
Read MoreLook with your special eyes
It’s not often that something can make me laugh, without fail, every time I see it. But when he looks with his special eyes and sees ::gasp:: his brand, I nearly pee myself. I can’t get enough of this commercial for 1-800-Contacts. It reminds me a bit of an ad that was done by Publicis…
Read MoreGo with the Flo
She’s quirky, perhaps excessively enthusiastic, and has an unnatural love for insurance. She’s Flo, and I can’t get enough of her. Progressive Insurance has found a blissfully happy medium between strange and annoying with their peppy spokeswoman and her discount crusade. While I pity this actress for what will be a lifetime association with this…
Read MoreFile Under: WTF?
I’ve talked here before about how my sleeping habits (namely, the habit of not sleeping) lead to viewing a crazy amount of late-night television. Lately, there has been one product advertisement that I just can’t get out of my head. No, it’s not an exciting product. No, I don’t want it. No, it’s not even…
Read MoreOlympic Consumerism
With any big world event comes the inevitable big budget commercials. Like the Superbowl (but perhaps with significantly less hype) the Olympics provide an opportunity to reach a wide-ranging audience that is already hyper with sports fever. From lighthearted to heart wrenching, I’ve seen quite a few stellar spots in this first week of Olympic…
Read MoreSnowbound Ad Roundup
Since I’ve been basically confined to my house for almost a solid week now (thanks, El Nino/Snowpocalypse/Snowmageddon) I’ve had a lot of time to watch television. Daytime programming around here mainly consists of various CSI reruns and judge shows, so the real highlight has been the quality (and not so quality) commercials. I’ve assembled a…
Read MoreThe Coffee Wars
There is something very polarizing about a cup of coffee; in fact, I know a lot of people who would define themselves by where they buy their brew. Like any other addictive substance, this caffeine cocktail is a recession-proof way for businesses to get you in the door and hopefully have you spend some money…
Read MoreFaux butter faux pas
When they named their product I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, Unilever pretty much spelled out the main product benefit. It is not butter, and yet it tastes like butter. This is fairly straightforward, and up until now their advertising has focused on this mirage. You may remember the long-running campaign where someone lifts the…
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Positively Natalie 