The new Vonage ads - I just don’t get them.
There’s a person in the foreground talking about Vonage, but in the background there’s something bizzare going on. In one, the guy’s naked neighbors are puttering around the backyard (blurred out, of course), in another one, the spokesperson is on a city street and there’s a guy in a huge lobster suit trying to get through a revolving door.
There’s several different versions, always with something weird happening behind the person talking about Vonage. I think they’re stupid - the background action is too distracting. You don’t even pay attention to what the person in the foreground is saying.
I hope this doesn’t get this thread kicked over to GD, but the one that totally drives me crazy is the Honda commercial where they have the singers in their red & white outfits singing “We Wish You a Happy Holiday.”
I know some people think that it’s not PC anymore to say Merry Christmas, and I personally don’t get offended at all if someone says Happy Holidays to me. As far as I’m concerned, either greeting is just fine.
But DON’T change the lyrics of the song to say Happy Holiday instead of Merry Christmas. That is just WRONG.
Even so, there are plenty of songs out there with the words “Happy Holidays” that they could have used instead of this one (May the calendar keep bringing Happy Honda Days to you).
Every one I have talked to thinks they are saying “Happy Holiday” as a direct replacement for “Merry Christmas” in the song.
Perhaps in a different year, they could have gotten away with it, but Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays seems to be a politically charged issue this year, and this ad plays right into it.
The coach tells the skier to act as if her Visa check card was stolen, so she takes off like a madman, getting a gold medal or whatever. Yet…the voice over guy just got done saying that you don’t HAVE to worry, because Visa has all this fraud protection. So shouldn’t she then ski as if she was out for a leisurly time on the slopes? THAT would actually make a better commercial, and it would make SENSE. Are ad agancies really this dumb?
Actually, I’m convinced that a lot of ads are desperation ploys from an advertising team up against their deadline.
(e.g. At 4 a.m., one junior ad exec, bleary eyed and wiped out, says, “How about we go with talking cows?” Everyone else replies, “Great idea!”)
Anyway, the most idiotic recent commerical I’ve seen is the family at the mall who are arranging whom should call whom so they can meet back together, when…
…wait for it…
…They realize that none of them actually own cell phones! :rolleyes: Haw, haw!
If I were you, I’d try to find a better-educated class of person to talk to, then.
You do realize, don’t you, that the Honda add is a non-satirical parody of an actual tuen, whose name, and proper lyrics, are indeed “Happy Holidays.” (Link to lyrics at 123christians.com.) If the lyrics were actually "Merry Christmas:, what the hell sense would it make to change them to “Happy Honda Days”?
Pick your battles, friend, and take it to Great Debates, not here, thanks.
No, this is the song that they have changed to “We wish you a Happy Honda Days.” The link you provided is to the Irving Berlin song “Happy Holidays”, which I suggested in a previous post would have been a better alternative than the one they used.
I hate most commercials where they appropriate a classic-rock song, but cut it off in unnatural places to make it conform to the ad campaign.
Current anti-favorites:
JC Penney, which uses ELO’s “Livin’ Thing”, but only the line about “It’s a givin’ thing.” That one really annoys me, because I keep expecting them to finish the frickin’ song, or at least the line!
The one that uses “Dust in the Wind.” People! It’s a depressing song! It’s about death! (I love it, but it is.) Why are you using it to advertise cars?
Beyonce and her family do NOT shop at Walmart. I hate that commercial.
The Bell South commercial with the radio contest and the need for high speed internet in order to win the trip to Jamaica. The girl’s “friends” are obnoxious. I hate it!
Ah. My bad. Haven’t seen the ad, and I misread your post.
In that case, I would have to chalk it up to ham-handed commercial-writing by committee.
I agree with your first post, in that case. Regardless of anyone’s position on the so-called War on Christmas, changing lyrics so they don’t scan anymore is WRONG, and incredibly irritating.
Oh, how I loathe the phone commercial (vonage???) that plays that ridiculous tune in the background – whoo-oo, whoo-oo-oooo … (as if that help you any) … i just got that damn song stuck in my head right now just thinking about it. I HATE YOU!
I think there’s a car commercial that uses the same jingle.
And whoever mentioned Joan Cusack for her phone ads is absolutely right. How someone can say that she’s NOT absolutely annoying is beyond me. Where I live, the city busses drive by with larger-than-lifesize images of her head, neck, and shoulders, holding a phone next to her face with some sort of smirky expression on it and it makes me want to hit something very hard.
Ok, just saw another one yesterday that qualifies for the list. It’s for the new Ratchet and Clank game and shows a teenage dude standing in his yard, accompanied by two cheap looking Ceylon rip-off robots. He’s looking up in a tree at his poor kitty, who’s stuck up in the top. So the Ceylon-Lites shoot down the tree, crush an SUV, and rescue the cat. So far, I’m cool with that.
But they’re playing the theme song from THE GOLDEN GIRLS the whole time!! This is not at all necessary to my overall mental well being, unless the robots were maybe shown hunting down Rue McClanahan and Betty White. Then I’ll allow it.
I’d like to say that I hate that IT commercial for Ebay (does Ebay really need to advertise?), but it’s impossible for me hear the theme song, Daydream Believer, and not smile.
You do realize that the theme song from The Golden Girls was a hit, in its own right, before it was the theme song, don’t you? (I’ve not seen this commercial, so I don’t know if they use the actual Golden Girls theme song, or the original hit song by I-forget-who).
What I hate about Excedrin commercials is that the weird combination of extreme closeups and very solemn faces (and do their eyes look extra wet to anyone else?) make them seem just creepily serious. I always expect the commercial to end with, “And now that I’ve dealt with my crippling migraine, I finally can get on with my plans to commit suicide.”
The advertiser for these KFC commercials gets murdered extra hard because they keep saying “casual dining restaurant” like it’s a normal expression. “I paid twice as much at a casual dining restaurant!”
I think the point of that commercial was that despite our social stereotypes even though he’s a rocket scientist and she’s an attractive woman, she’s the one who’s so incredibly socially stunted and obnoxious that no one wants to hang out with her.
A new addition: What would YOU do for love over the holidays?
A guy stranded in an airport, all flights are cancelled. But he has this $15K diamond necklace to get to his beloved. He tells here on the phone that he can’t make it…sorry.
End of act one. As if a 2 part commercial cliffhanger isn’t bad enough.
Cut to act 2.
He pulls up in a snowplow, evidently hitch hiking home to be with his SO. They meet in the yard, both looking like they don’t really recognize each other. A warm embrace ensues.
In reality, he gets the crap beat out of him and his diamond necklace stolen. A snow plow driver finds him near dead in the ditch and thaws him out and takes him home. The SO hears the snow plow, but not expecting Diamond boy to be home, she has her on-the-side guy go out into the yard with her.
That’s the real reason Diamond Boy has that look on his face.