They call that a commercial?!!

[AndyC]

The other thing that really gets on my nerves is when some company buys a classic song and uses it for a jingle. The hits of my teenage years have been reduced to that.

Of course, it gets worse when they only use a part of the song out of context. Remember when the chorus of Electric Avenue was used for some kind of hair product? This is obviously the work of people who never actually paid attention to the entire song, and what it was about. I say the same thing about the themes to the various CSI shows.



Post Edited (02-15-05 07:35)

[raj]

Yes, now they're doing it with Clapton tunes.  Auuugggghh.

[DaveMunger]

OK, I've got a problem with truth.com too. They're basically a bunch of lawyers who won a buttload of money from suing tobaco companies, with the condition that they spend it on anti-smoking PSAs, but these spots aren't really about how bad smoking is for you, they're all just about how culpable the companies are. They're just setting up the next round of lawsuits.

[Ozzymandias]

However, I like when they use songs that aren't overplayed on radio for commercials.  If it takes a commercial to hear T. Rex's "20th Century Boy," Partridge Family "I Woke Up In Love This Morning" and The Sonics "Have Love Will Travel."

[AndyC]

But in some cases, the song deserves more respect. Just last night, I saw one that's bugged me for a while. The Coke commercial that uses Queen's 'I Want to Break Free.' Could have sworn I heard Freddie Mercury turn over in his grave. A Queen song deserves better, even if better is just the theme for a cheesy movie :)

Of course, a good song is still better than a crappy one, used in a spot that runs over and over and over. Like the one Blockbuster has been running for "the end of late fees" using that annoying Roy Orbison tune. And the whole thing is a scam anyway. Goodbye late fees, hello restocking fees and extra hassles.



Post Edited (02-16-05 08:40)

[JohnL]

>OK, I've got a problem with truth.com too. They're basically a bunch of lawyers
>who won a buttload of money from suing tobaco companies, with the condition
>that they spend it on anti-smoking PSAs, but these spots aren't really about how
>bad smoking is for you, they're all just about how culpable the companies are.

I guess I'm the only one who doesn't mind these spots. True, if people didn't buy and smoke cigarettes in the first place, the tobacco companies would be out of business, but on the other hand, these companies knowingly sell a harmful and addictive product.

[DaveMunger]

Yeah, but they are supposed to be making PSAs about how you shouldn't smoke, not about how much more money they should be awarded in future lawsuits.

Appropriate:
This is what your lungs will look like if you smoke.

Inappropriate:
This is an out of context quote from a tobbaco company executive that proves that they are culpable and that we should sue them some more.

This is jury tampering and misappropriation. Sure the companies knowingly sell an addictive product, that should be easy enough to prove in court. They did, after all, win the first round of suits. But they're supposed to do that in the court room, not on TV, and not with funds that they recieved on the condition that they utilize them for entirely different purposes.

[Genetic Mishap]

AndyC wrote:

> Just last  night, I saw one that's bugged me for a while. The Coke
> commercial that uses Queen's 'I Want to Break Free.' Could have
> sworn I heard Freddie Mercury turn over in his grave. A Queen
> song deserves better, even if better is just the theme for a
> cheesy movie :)
>

You're forgetting the Viagra commercial. Regardless of whether it's overplayed enough as it is or not, "We Are the Champions" was nearly ruined for me.

[Al Ellard]

Anyone know where I can download a copy of the universal orlando resort commercials?

[Menard]

Okay. That's twice today that I have seen this Dr. Pepper commercial where this guy is doing things like buying tampons for his girlfriend, helping her fold her panties at a public laundry, etc.

The commercial uses as its soundtrack, Meatloaf's 'I Would Do Anything For Love'. Until his girlfriend tries to take his Dr. Pepper and the line 'But I Won't Do That' is played while he is running away from her with his Dr. Pepper.

Does anybody else find this to be a bad commercial?

[Ozzymandias]

That actually sounds funny. As many of you know I work at a radio station and we got a group of new ads from Charmin. I just want to say STOP WITH THE BEARS!

It was half way funny the first time we saw a toliet paper commercial with "bears in the woods." But after about two years it isn't funny any more. We get it. We know what "bears do in the woods." HA HA HA! Now try something else. I don't care if you have to prop Mr. Whipple's corpse up in the supermarket to scare the water out of those housewives just don't show us those cartoon bears anymore!

[Menard]

I guess if you see another Charmin commercial anytime too soon, you just won't be able to 'bear' it.

Aw, c'mon, somebody had to do it. (:

[Ash]

Possibly the most creepy, crappy ad is the Enzyte commercial for "natural male enhancment".
They play this s**tty ad on Spike all the time.
The guy who plays Bob simply looks like a madman to me.
When he gives that evil grin, to me it doesn't look like he's happy that he's enhanced, it looks like he's ready to slaughter an entire family and then go back to his wife afterwards.

I expect him to break out into maniacal laughter and can envision him in a straight jacket being hauled away by asylum workers.

Here's a pic:


UGH!   That guy gives me the creeps!



Post Edited (03-12-05 20:12)

[AndyC]

Bob's buddy in the other Enzyte commercial is even creepier. The guy who was "living large and laughing easy." What was his name?

[Scott H.]

I guess I am alone on this subject.

People making a commercial need to understand it is supposed to emcompass a story. That story is then supposed to have relative characters and a common goal. Most commercials, this commercial in particular, don't for some reason. It's a simple rule in story writing that all these elements of a story exist, or it won't be interesting. Where do people come off trying to force this down our throat?

Commercials are an art form. They are as much a work of art as a feature length film is the same way a 1 act play is a work of art compared to a Greek tragedy. Today it is being butchered into a lump of incoherent commercialism (yes, there is a difference between commercials and commercialism; the difference being commercials create commercialism, therefore commercials can change commercialism). What the commercial world needs is some guidance, someone to show them what is right and what is wrong. They don't need Test Groups, they need critics. The public doesn't know what they want. They are the uncivilized masses. People like us on this board have a specialized interest in movies and in what makes a good movie and a bad movie. The same thing is needed for people who make commercials. They need someone to guide and advise them.

I feel that these days, commercials have become a tool of the executives to create an assembly line demand for their products. There is no quality left in anything, and that the desire is for an impersonal contact with the people who buy the product. Remember the IBM or Microsoft commercial that was run during the Superbowl back in the 80's where a guy with a computer runs down the middle aisle of people bankly staring at a screen and hurls it at the screen in a huge explosion? If that didn't scream "break away from the ordinary" I don't know what does. It was so good that even Futurama paid homage to it in their 80's guy episode. That commercial told people what their product was, it set a mood, it established characters, it even told us what to do! It was great.

I don't think I could stop writing about this with a completed conclusion, so I'll just break off here. Commercials are art too. They need to be treated like they are art again.

-Scott H.