It IS a stupid ad, but....

bobobo — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:49:15 -0400

... It's almost interesting when one considers the sheer number of peculiarities in it. A Neil Diamond song?!? A very average looking guy listening to a Neil Diamond song?!? Singing animals?
The wolf spitting out the bird after the guy's disapproving glance adds a bit of the lion-&-lamb, Why-can't-we-all-get-along, world-harmony theme, which, in this context, seems vaguely ironic.
Maybe they're pushing a real-guys-aren't-PC campaign over at Chrysler- note the Dodge Caliber add with Tinkerbelle flying around, zapping urban scenes with her wand and changing them into their children's book cartoonish equivalents, until she encounters the Caliber. The Caliber is so non-cute that it bounces her spells back at her, and she gets knocked out of the air, crashing against a wall and falling to the sidewalk. A passing lout happens to be walking his bulldog(?). He points at Tinkerbelle and exclaims, "Silly Fairy!" Tingerbelle zaps him with her wand, and his jeans turn into white tennis shorts, his jacket into a sweater draped over his shoulders, knotted in the front, and his bulldog turns into a pair of Shi-Tsus.
AT the other end of the spectrum are two male-demeaning "Honey, what are you doing?" ads. A very self-impressed 30-something wife is discussing her Yoplait diet with a friend, listing the flavors she's had, without specifying that they're yoghurts. Her witless hubby, hearing about apple turnovers and cheesecakes, begins to search through the refrigerator looking for these treats, but there's nothing there but Yoplaits (refrigerator-domination?). She turns and asks "Honey, what are you doing?" in a scolding tone, and he stops and looks like a little boy caught microwaving the cat.
A man in evening attire is having a James-bond fantasy to the theme of "Secret Agent Man", ending with his snatching a credit card from the hands of a thief. His reverie is interrupted by the same question from his wife, in the same tone, and he explains that the credit card agency called him to say that they had blocked an attempt at the fraudulent use of the couple's card.
A Cheerios ad has an intimidated guy noticing that cheerios have 110 calories per serving and asking his wife if she's watching her weight. Under her withering gaze, he makes a bunch of excuses for his having the temerity to ask such a thing, until she asks him what else the box says, and he says, "Shut up, Mike" (or whatever his name is). What kind of male image is Madison Ave. trying to project?

BAD AD

Garen Daly — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:05:09 -0400

The Crankee Yankee Blog: BAD ADThe Frugal Yankee spent a fair amount of time watching football this weekend which means a fair amount of time was spent looking at TV ads.

One of my favorite past times is deconstructing TV ads. Looking at them. Figuring who made the ad and who the target audience is. Sometimes I just scratch my head and wonder, how much money are these people making and do the deserve it?

The Frugal Yankee - BAD AD - Comments

It IS a stupid ad, but....

BAD AD