I have a difficult relationship with commercials. Mostly I consider them a nuisance, except for when I'm in need of a restroom or drink break. Well, and on those rare occasions when they actually work, and I consider them a pithy little shot of entertainment in their own right.
I mentioned the stupid Valentine's teddy bear commercial in my last post, and added to it the even stupider and more crass Burger King commercial. I also can't stand the plastic King -- so creepy -- but I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in that one. (Oi, poor Burger King! They've never been able to top "Have it Your Way")
I'm also unimpressed with those commercials for some financial planning company which look like a live action filmed commercial with the cartooning effect superimposed on top -- what's the point? I mean, film it, and then animation on top of it? Isn't that a bit like tracing?
Just saw one with pigs sitting at a table in a restaurant - Okay, is that supposed to sell something? I mean to humans?
There are others that I can't think of now, and I can't be arsed to sit through youtube vids looking for them. The less I recall them, the better my sanity.
There are a few I enjoy, like the Sonic Drive-In Comedy Duos -- the two guys are funny, the husband and wife are growing on me and they've just launched the Mom and Son -- I think they're funny because they're identifiable. The duos are comical, but in a down-to-earth, "ain't life quirky" kind of way.
Then there's the Hall's cough drop "War Face" commercial -- I think it's hilarious and I laugh evertime I see it. That one isn't even slightly identifiable -- I mean, I've never had a Military Sargeant roll out of a thunder clap and give me a boot camp pep talk when I pop a Halls cough drop in my mouth, You? Yet isn't that what that first inhale feels like after you do? "Let me see your 'war face'!" indeed.
I roll when I see the "Bing-O was his name-O" style of that commercial for the employment website, with the woman screaming and banging the wheel of her car, the man walking by the desk casually greeting the fellow employee "Hello, Dummy" and the guy weeping uncontrollably (along with the punching of the stuffed animal -- don't tell peta) I've had jobs where I felt EXACTLY like each one of those repeated scenarios. It never fails to make me laugh. Again, very identifiable.
I guess they're all pretty successful -- even the ones I don't like -- because even if I can't recall the exact company name they're advertising, I can at the very least hit the industry.
Is that always good though? I mean, I have an aversion to Burger King and I'm not sure if it's because the plastic Burger King freaked me out on some subconscious level or because I just prefer McD's french fries.
Is it just a coincidence that I continue to go to the Sonic Drive-In, even though the one here in town without fail gets my order wrong, puts waaaay too much ice in their drinks so you just know you're getting ripped off and everything (from the ice cream to the burritos)tastes like it's been cooked in the same stale grease?
Do I neglect to invest for my future because I'm some cool cat who can't be bothered planning for my old age, or because I think the commercials for the financial planning company "cheat" because the artwork is traced?
Do I spend a little more on Halls rather than the knock off because it's actually better, or because I'm hoping Sp. Agent Gibbs (the best-looking fictional former Marine I know of...) to roll out of a clap of thunder and exhort me to "put on my war face"? (Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?)
I dunno. The advertising companies have so fully embedded psychological study into the process that perhaps we are ALL just the victim of choices we made based on some unfairly stacked media advertising practices.
Makes me wonder, though; now that we've entered into the concrete, visible phase of economic downturn -- paybacks for rampant requisitioning, maybe? -- will we see a day when advertising companies are held accountable for making people want what they don't need, can't afford, and isn't necessary? Will we see trial lawyers (the scourge, imo, of our modern times) humping the pass the buck gravy train for our consumerism run amok onto advertisers who unfairly weighted their campaigns with subconscious appeals to that greedy nature in us all?
I don't know. I'd like to think that once you become an adult you start accepting some responsibilty for your choices -- no matter how manipulated or coerced you may have felt. Some things you just know deep down inside. Like, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Like, anyone who tries to tell you they have the corner on the absolute truth is either lying or trying to sell you something. Like, you can't pay for an Escalade on a Hyundai income. Given the raw numbers set before them, wouldn't even a fifth grader be able to predict that one?
Huh. Come to think of it, maybe our government needs to go back and relearn some fifth grade arithmatic, eh?
