The Signs of Stupid

I recently heard a commercial on the radio that had a character continuing to work despite having his hair on fire. It stated “you wouldn’t ignore this, why ignore the signs of a stroke?” I don't know, maybe because the signs of a stroke are just a wee bit subtler? I mean, I get it, strokes are very serious and shouldn’t be ignored, but this is a stupid way of framing it. Tell us the signs of stroke are just as important as having your head a flame – don’t just assume we know that. Other wise the comparison of numbness and slurred speech to a burning coif seems a little exaggerated.

Interesting Article on the Writers' Strike

Pepto Abysmal

I am not thrilled with the Pepto Bismol commercials lately. The theme song they have used for a few years was tolerable – it was certainly a catchy way to discuss a distasteful subject. But now they have started airing commercials of “auditions,” featuring less than talented performers. I’m not really interested in hearing people who can’t carry a tune, and in many cases barely speak English, sing about intestinal maladies. Maybe they’re just trying to make us sick so we’ll buy more Pepto.

Snickers really satisfies

I am enjoying the new Snickers campaign which features randomly dressed characters (pilgrim, Viking) and their disproportionate reactions to Snickers bars: “sound a feasting horn!” I don’t know exactly what the message is here, but I enjoy the spots nonetheless. Starburst has some similarly odd commercials – my favorite being the man who, inexplicably dressed in velvet short pants with matching jacket and ruffled shirt, does a little dance and sings about how much he loves berries and cream. Crazy people like their candy.

Nature loves a sing along

I like the new Jeep Liberty commercial where the guy is driving along and various animals leap into the car and begin singing along to the radio(see it here). It would be stupid or a little too precious, except for the addition of the wolf leaping into the sunroof and eating one of the birds. The driver’s look of disbelief is great. He doesn’t look upset about the apparent death of the bird – more puzzled that the wolf would mess with the back up singing. Very funny.

Dominos Double take

The commercial for Dominos new crispy melt pizza bears some close attention. The dialogue is discussing how the pizza is one thing and then another, and as the camera switches from the delivery boy to the customer, each character changes actors. A clever and subtle way to enforce the message.

Classic movie silliness

There is a promo for a segment on our local news this week featuring a scene from an old silent movie (or a facsimile of an old silent movie) where the villain ties the girl to the train tracks and it has me wondering: what is up with that? This is such a standard image and I never really thought about it before, but what does the villain hope to accomplish by tying up the heroine? Is he stalling the hero so he can commit crimes while the hero is busy freeing the girl? This seems unlikely since the villain is usually driving the train, so is he just sadistic and wants to see girls squashed? Seems like an awful lot of trouble, especially since the fact he has to walk or ride his horse all the way back to get his private train that he then drives towards the girl always seems to take so much time the hero can of course rescue her. I guess it didn’t matter back then because movies were so fascinating people would watch anything (seriously – I have seen what is basically home footage from the early 1900’s of a baby eating that lasts over an hour. wheee). Still, it’s a pretty weird plot element.