That is odd. (And did they pay royalties to the Kubrick estate for the obvious reference to the end of his movie of 2001: A Space Odyssey?)
My best guess is that it’s meant to appeal to those who define themselves as “hipsters.” Because it’s all cosmic and cinematic and whatnot.
It’s a confused and frightened elderly Alzheimer’s patient in some sort of automated extended care facility, being harassed by a robot which is poking her in the face with a spoonful of ice cream, trying to make her eat it, and telling her that everyone she loved is dead. That’s not hip or funny, it’s sad and disturbing.
I didn’t catch any 2001 reference, but I’m pretty sure that you don’t have to pay royalties for a simple reference.
The set is similar to the set in which Bowman grows old (and dies and is reborn as the Star Child). Could be that’s not a matter for copyright.
And whether hipsters find it to be cool to watch an old person being tormented by a robot, is not for me to say—but as I said, that was my best guess.
In any event, as you imply, it seems unlikely that this commercial will lead to increased sales for the product!
Strangely enough, it’s actually made me curious about the ice cream, which I’d never heard of before. So maybe it achieves it’s purpose, but in a rather despicable way.
Maybe I’m just sensitive because I helped care for my elderly mother for a number of years.
That made me want to eat ice cream about as much as the Skittles pox commercial made me want to eat Skittles.
The one I came to mention isn’t annoying so much as puzzling. Why is Werewolves of London playing in a cereal commercial featuring a dad and daughter fishing and trash talking?
I saw that one the other day and was completely perplexed by it as well. It’s a Raisin Bran ad, a product I associate with neither werewolves nor London. As far as Warren Zevon songs go it’s not the least appropriate to use in this commercial*, but there’s a fairly long list of things one might wish to advertise that have a more obvious connection to “Werewolves of London”. Hair products would be my top pic, but also men’s tailors, Chinese restaurants, London tourism, a Lon Chaney Jr. movie marathon, the film An American Werewolf in London, pina coladas, and of course Trader Vic’s.
*Least appropriate would probably be “Play It All Night Long”.
Good GOD this commercial is annoying!
It would be a lot less annoying if it was Anchor Steam.
I’ll admit it. I laughed when he turned up at the burial.
This is my reaction.
More ice cream nightmare fuel.
Now that college football is back, we’ve got that annoying Dr. Pepper vendor ad back on television. Look, you can sponsor the whole CFB playoff and get your name on the trophy, but it doesn’t make one person want to drink that rancid swill that you bottle.
I don’t think much of the ad, but I do drink a ton of Dr Pepper.
We all have our own tastes, but to me it’s like drinking the sweepings off the floor of the spice aisle.
This will take some explaining but trust me, this is a threadwinner.
For many years in the UK, people were sold something called Payment Protection Insurance or PPI, which is
Unfortunately, a large percentage of these policies were either grossly missold (i.e. sold in ways that would make claims virtually impossible) or tacked onto other financial products without the knowledge of the customer. As a result, once this was discovered hundreds of thousands of customers were then eligible to claim compensation for the missold products. Unfortunately again, this set the vultures circling and now every household has experienced the joy of coldcalling companies offering to “help them claim for PPI” (usually for the lion’s share of the money), which is a massive annoyance.
After a few years of this, the Financial Conduct Authority, one of the UK regulatory bodies, determined that at some point there needed to be a cutoff for claims for PPI (both so that the firms involved could close off the potential liability and so those f&*king calls would stop). But they needed to make sure that any remaining potential claimants would be aware of the deadline so that they could decide once and for all whether they were going to file a claim.
“How,” said the FCA, “can we make an advertisement that will be attention-getting, high profile and memorable enough that nobody will be able to say that no one told them about the cutoff date?”
And then they had this idea.. And this one.
Warning: Once seen, these cannot be unseen. Ever.
You’re welcome.
I’ve noted before that drinking (diet) Dr. Pepper can be very helpful when you’re trying to quit smoking. It sort of recreates that burn in your chest that you used to get from the cigs. I’m not kidding!
AAAHHHCE COLD buuuuud LIGHT!
“Diet Dr Pepper - it’s just like smoking!”
Doesn’t quite work.
It had me at “Apple: It’s Good If You Like CRAP” in the sidebar
OMFG, that’s hilarious! But I can see it getting old really quick depending on how often it runs.