I hit the FFWD on these things, so I only get bits and pieces, but here goes:
A man and a woman (apparently a teacher) are chatting, and she’s talking about buying school supplies. She’s having to buy school supplies out of her own money. HD is apparently contributing some money to schools, so she’s buying stuff there. She looks over at another register, and there is her husband, also buying stuff. She very poignantly mouths out “Thank you.”
If the “message” in this commercial is what I think it is, it seems pretty mawkish, maudlin or some word (possibly not even beginning with and “m”).
The husband was angry for her “wasting” money for supplies, and he then thinks that she won’t buy them after he told her not to. But he realizes his error and buys them himself, while she ignores him and buys them too, hence, she is happy with her husband.
I think it’s Office Depot. But I could be wrong. I think the commercial was about OD giving money back to schools for computers, etc. The woman is a teacher whose school cannot afford paper, pencils, whatever. The husband is dismayed at first b/c they don’t have a lot of money to begin with, and now she is off spending their dough on some poor kids. Well in the end, his heart grows heavy with remorse so he goes to OD and buys some crap for her class too. She sees him there, lovelorn looks ensue. Then some gibberish about OD helping out schools.
Yes, but what if it turns out he was buying the supplies for his other wife, who is also a teacher? Or he’s an inveterate pedophile who lures poor children into his van with school supplies? Or he’s using the school supplies to make himself a ballerina outfit made of construction paper and sparkles? I want to see part two and have this mystery cleared up.
I guess it is what the others have said, but it does not seem very clear that he is purchasing the supplies for her eventhough she is also purchasing them and why she says thank you and all that.
At first I thought maybe he was a parent that was purchasing supplies for the school because I had missed the first part where they are talking about their lack of money and it seemed to fit better, but I have no idea what message they are trying to convey.
BTW, my parents and sister who are teachers have been doing this for years. (That’s why I work for a big company that can afford to buy me my office supplies.)
The commercial is intended as a veiled advertisement for communism. We are supposed to walk away with the feeling that the state does not do enough to support public schools, which is why low-paid teachers have to use a portion of their meager disposible income to supplement the deficiency of the government budget.
In part II we will see a revolution of the masses that will overthrow the dictatorship of the corrupt bourgeoisie. The owner of Office Depot is a russian émigé who, disillusioned with the collapse of the worker’s paradise, has decided to use more subtle means to achieve the society that historical necessity will inevitably impose on us in the not-so-distant future. “Subversion from within”, I believe, is the correct technical term for this method of using propaganda to acheive your noble goals.
Ah, but have you seen the other one? The one that has the old wizened good-hearted janitor teaching the new young replacement janitor the tips and secrets of the job. The young, naive janitor thoughtlessly points out that the building is a little run down. The kindly old grandpa janitor gives him a stern lecture about how this old run down building has helped thousands of kids succeed or some such drivel. The new janitor is chastened, and rededicates himself to being the best darned janitor he can be.
Fer Pete’s sake. Do they actually think people are moved by this garbage?
The janitor commercial realy wasn’t about janitors. The school represents your old run down wife. You’ve been using her for years and she just doesn’t look as good as she used to. But she’s cooked you a lot of meals, done your laundry, and just generally taken care of you. Their mops are obviously phallic. What the commercial is trying to say, is even though your woman’s looking pretty worn down, you should still take a couple days a month away from your mistresses and give her a little sex. It’s the least you can do.
::running for life weaving through a barrage of gunfire::
My favorite part of this commercial is when she looks at him and says, all snotty like, “I didn’t become a teacher for the money, Steven.”
Oh I laugh and I laugh and I laugh.
Good timing on the ad. Wasn’t it in last week’s Time magazine that teachers spend an average of over $400 per year of their own money on classroom supplies?
I work with school districts, and believe me- there is no union short of the Teamsters that kicks ass like a teacher’s union. So what the hell are they doing about it? Don’t tell me these districts don’t have money for supplies, because I know better.
But to the point of the OP- tearjerking and shameless. Why don’t they just show that scene from “The Champ” or something?
There is another one, for Wal-Mart, with the Kindergarten teacher buying school supplies and talking about how she buys everything at WM. It shows her buying crayons and markers; really loading up. Makes the implication she’s buying it for her students, not her own kids.
I like the commercial for Staples office supply that has the 2 kids trudging sadly down the school supply aisle, while Dad is dancing around and whizzing by with the shopping cart, while “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” plays.
Cracks me up every year.
But then again, I am sooooo easily amused.
I agree with Aglarond, the janitor commercial wasn’t about janitors. It was a recruiting commercial for …
Homosexuals!!!
The old janitor is saying HE’s a little run-down, but can still give pleasure to his protegé. Hence, the phallic mops previously mentioned.
Shocking,eh?
I hadn’t considered the homosexual implications of two men alone at night in an abandoned building with large sticks. How could I have missed that? Hmmm…I wonder which meaning they were really meaning to portray?
Home Depot specializes in construction and home improvements.