Nostalgia

This Pontiac / Spy Hunter commercial took me way back!

Time to hit up ebay.

Filed under: Advertising, Commercials, Nintendo, Nostalgia, Pontiac, Spy Hunter, Video Games

Super Bowl Commericals

Oddly, there has been a serious lack of chatter on the Super Bowl commercials today. It wasn’t the worst year for commercials, and it wasn’t the best. It was sort of the equivalent of having Tom Petty do the half-time show—just alright. I’d give them an overall grade of C+.

Anheuser-Busch – Stole the show with seven fresh and humorous ads. A couple of theirs were dumb, but the Wheel/Bottle Opener, Cheese Run, Ability to Fly and Breathe of Fire ads were great fun.

Audi – Their new car was very intriguing. The ad seemed a little overdone though.

Bridgestone Tires – Almost there. The screaming squirrel was the best part of those.

Cars.com – Made me smile, but didn’t blow me away.

Careerbuilder.com – Unimpressed

Coke – Shaq on a horse was funny. The rest not so much.

eTrade – The talking baby thing has been done before, but this baby was a little more tech savy and came across as fresh.

FedEx – Really?

GoDaddy –  Their Superbowl ads are making me want to do business elsewhere.

Pepsi – Their Superbowl ads make me glad I’m a Coke man. Although hearing Thriller again was a welcome surprise!

Salesgenie.com – Mostly annoying.

If it weren’t for beer commercials, the world of TV advertising would be a boring place. Watch all of the Super Bowl spots here or here.

Filed under: Advertising, Commercials, Football, Super Bowl, Television

No. You Come On.

Filed under: Advertising, Cameras, Canon, Commercials, Maria Sharapova, YouTube

Oreo Mustache

Filed under: Commercials, Domino's, Humor, Mustache, Oreo's, Pizza, YouTube

Everybody Loves Caveman

Not too long ago I mentioned my love for the Geico Caveman commercials.

It seems now that I’m not alone.

He now is in negotiations to star in a half-hour comedy show produced by ABC.

“These particular cavemen are so interesting because they are so angry,” said Robert Thompson, professor at Syracuse University and head of the school’s Center for the Study of Popular Television. “It’s a way we can deal with those issues that have come with raised consciousness and have merged into political correctness, and you can do it in a way that is safe because you’re making fun of cavemen and not some other group.”

Sounds like what I said. I think this might be the new ALF. I’d definitely tune into this show!!

[ Fun Link: Caveman's Crib ]

Filed under: Cavemen, Comedy, Commercials, Geico, TV

Super Sucky Advertising

I think my window of opportunity might have passed to comment on the Super Bowl commercials, so this won’t be very elaborate. The one thing that struck me Sunday was how terrible these things were as a whole. Sometimes they just try too hard to be creative and lose the point of simplicity. Like that map monster, the outerspace thing, or the Sheryl Crow commercial. They were confusing, long winded and hideous!

The one I liked the most happened before the game. Those lions chatting about Taco Bell were great. You can hardly ever go wrong having animals talking. A few of the things that I can still remember after the game is that for some reason my brother and I kept slapping each other while playing pool and that I now have no desire to eat a Snickers…especially near an auto mechanic.

Oh, and although it is true that everybody wants to work in Marketing, and I work in an office that is made up of mostly women, I have been blessed enough that that stuff has never happened in my office.

(Is anyone else tired of the OCC guys?)

Filed under: Commercials, Super Bowl, TV

Caveman Commentary

What you have here is one of my favorite commercials. I love all of the Geico Cavemen spots and this newest one is great! The actors are so good, the plot lines are funny, and the genius part about it is that Geico has found the one group of people they can poke fun at without getting into trouble.

You may have noticed that advertisers are shy to make fun of any group of people these days so as not to get sued. Actually, you’ll find that the only group still not off-limits is the white male. They can make him look like a bafoon all they want. That’s kosher. Do a little test sometime and make a mental note of every time a white male is portrayed as an imbecile in a commercial or sitcom, while everyone else is brilliant. It bothers me (being a white male and all) that they can get away with that, but at the same time, I’m sort of proud that I can take it and still be alright.

Anyway, after watching some of the clips on YouTube, there were actually some commenting that even these were racist. Can you believe that? What are your thoughts?

Filed under: Cavemen, Commercials, Geico, Racism

Pay It Forward

No doubt inspired from the movie Pay It Forward, Liberty Mutual has developed a wonderfully inspirational ad. Gets me everytime I watch it. (The song being played is Half Acre by Hem)

www.payitforwardfoundation.org
www.payitforwardmovement.com

Filed under: Commercials, Inspirational