Posts tagged as commercials
Arch West, 1914-2011
Anyone attempting to rob the grave of the late Frito-Lay executive Arch West will get the same unpleasant surprise as millions of Americans have when they've lifted up the cushions in the couch in the TV room while looking for quarters to do laundry or tip a pizza delivery guy. West, who died on Tuesday in Dallas at the age of 97, invented Doritos, and when he is buried this weekend, according to a statement issued by his daughter, his family will honor him by "tossing Doritos chips in before they put the dirt over the urn." (Also, though, in light of this Doritos commercial from a couple of years ago, there is the possibility that West could be faking his own death.)
Science Will Capture Your Dreams
So here is a terrifying new scientific advance: using electrodes surgically implanted in the brains of medical patients, a UCLA neuroscientist named Dr. Moran Cerf says he has successfully monitored people's thoughts. READ MORE
Enjoy That Cheeseburger, Because It Could Be Your Last
Above, a new pro-vegetarian spot from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine that's making explicit the link between fast-food consumption and heart disease. Like, really explicit: The corpse at the center the ad died gettin' his burger on, as evidenced by the Big Mac Of Death that remains in his hand while a woman weeps over his lifeless body. Leaving aside the obvious questions regarding the man's grip on his burger-sized deathtrap and the process of rigor, one must ask: Why is it always McDonald's that gets whacked by ads of this ilk? Surely one is more likely to keel over as the direct result of eating a Double Down, or, chowing his way through two feet of pizza. And it's not like McDonald's arches are the most visually appealing option for the kicker: A couple of tiny Burger King crowns would look so cute superimposed over the dead dude's feet at the very end of this spot! You could even add the tagline "He had it his way... and then he died," and you'd have a goldmine.
What I Learned From Watching 180 Deodorant Commercials
People have been wondering for a long time what comes after anti-marketing marketing. When commercials began to target the people who hated commercials-these attempts were almost indistinguishable from SNL spoofs-it seemed like we'd reached the final frontier. Then there were stealth viral vids and customized social media ads straight out of Minority Report. But it wasn't until this week that somebody finally put it all together. I won't insult the effectiveness of this campaign by pretending you don't know what I'm talking about. READ MORE
Scalding Grease Normal Side Effect of Undrained McDonald's Sandwiches
"When Frank Sutton bit into his sandwich, scalding grease 'flew all over his mouth,' a fellow diner recalled. Mr. Sutton's wife took ice from her drink and applied it to his face, but his lips blistered. When he told one of the employees, he testified that she said 'this is what happens' to the sandwiches 'when they aren't drained completely.'" READ MORE
Liveblogging the Friskies "Adventureland" Commercial
0:01 OK this is
0:02 reasonable enough.
0:03 This looks
0:04 familiar.
0:05 Wait those streamer things
0:06 kind of remind me of a
0:07 Pantene ad. Like illustrating
0:08 the magic of hair chemicals/cat food.
0:09 Now this is like The Lion, The Witch and
0:10 The
0:11 Wardrobe,
0:12 where a weird mirror
0:13 floating in space
0:14 equals wardrobe.
0:15 OK this is just UNFAIR.
0:16 NO CAT
0:17 experiences this kind of
0:18 ecstasy not even
0:19 on CATNIP. The
0:20 animation is atrocious. Those
0:21 turkeys are like something
0:22 from a computer game from 1997. Nanosaur!
0:23 What are the turkeys so
0:24 happy about? He is going to eat
0:25 them! This singing is like
0:26 a backing track on that sellout
0:27 Liz Phair album.
0:28 Don't fall off the
0:29 cliff!!!!!!!! Damn, cats are agile.
0:30 Is that a litter? As in the thing
0:31 that someone rich sits in while minions
0:32 carry it and walk? Oh no, it's a boat.
0:33 Cats hate water! Thank god for pirate ships!
0:34 The cat is meowing as if to say
0:35 "Where the fuck am I?!?!? I want to
0:36 go hooooooooooooooome.
0:37 REOW."
0:38 OK safely in pirate ship.
0:39 Failing to catch any fish because fish are computer-animated.
0:40 Not actually looking directly at fish
0:41 because fish have been fake CG'd into this
0:42 lucy-in-the-sky-with-fishes world.
0:43 Oh yeah,
0:44 OF COURSE SOME RARE ENDANGERED
0:45 PHEASANTS ARE GOING TO ROLL DOWN
0:46 A RED CARPET FOR YOU. OBVIOUSLY.
0:47 (THEY MIGHT JUST BE TURKEYS.)
0:48 Okay now there's an entire drum circle
0:49 of prey.
0:50 Oh but
0:51 maybe they are dancing in a farewell
0:52 like get the fuck out of here
0:53 don't eat us! We'll be nice to you if you
0:54 don't eat us!
0:55 There he/she goes. Wait did he just
0:56 come out of the washing machine?
0:57 Yes the reality is that you are just
0:58 eating 99-cent horse meat.
0:59 SORRY ABOUT THAT,
0:60 MEOWIEKINS. READ MORE
New Kodak Commercial More Like 'Poltergeist' Than Presumably Intended
What exactly is going on in that new Kodak Gallery commercial? A creepy piano tinkles as a little girl and a grandma shout to each other across the span of an absurdly large couch. Little girl says something stupid, grandma laughs at her stupidity. But the mood darkens when little girl asks grandma, "Were you ever in love?" Grandma answers with a cryptic, "Well..." The music intensifies, takes on an almost maniacal quality. Then the little girl says something about magic sea horses, grandma seems confused and, wait a minute-that couch is definitely getting smaller! Is this like an Alice In Wonderland thing? Or they're trying to convey the horror of senile dementia? Or, wait, is the grandma supposed to be a ghost? Are they both ghosts? Is this a commercial about the victims of some grisly, long-ago mass-murder coming back to haunt the living?
