# Friends & Family hamster commercial **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 29, 2014, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-family-hamster-commercial/684802 "2014-03-29T01:00:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-family-hamster-commercial/684802/1 "2014-03-29T01:00:51Z")
I’m totally in favor of hamsters in commercials. But, I don’t get the AT&T friends and family hamster commercial. At all. Why do they call the hamster “Dad”? Is the guy supposed to be the real dad? He looks too young to be the father of those kids. And why does the girl have birds flitting around her shoulders? Is this just nonsense surrealism, or is there some point that I’m missing? ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-family-hamster-commercial/684802/2 "2014-03-29T02:31:42Z")
I have no idea, but nonsense surrealism doesn’t seem all that bad of a guess truth be told ---
**Author:** ![Wisp00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/977dab/32.png) [@Wisp00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wisp00)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-family-hamster-commercial/684802/3 "2014-03-29T05:39:25Z")
The commercial in question: [- YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TRecqzFIUM) Here’s another one they’re playing on youtube:[- YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5A1OsCsaz4) The tag line is “Is the F for family or friends?” My take is they are showing a group of people who are clearly meant to be seen as a family; they call each other dad and son and are sitting around a breakfast table as families do. But at the same time, they are clearly not related. They have different accents (even speak different languages), are different races, and apparently also different species. So… are they family or friends? With the new Sprint plan, it doesn’t matter! (no explanation for the animated birds, though, I’m afraid 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-family-hamster-commercial/684802/4 "2014-03-29T05:48:13Z")
I feel like this ad should piss me off, but actually it works for me. (Works in the sense of I respect it, and maybe even like it, but not in the sense that it drives me to purchase Sprint service.) The blond girl playing piano and singing a … I want to say Motley Crue? … song in French sells it for me. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-family-hamster-commercial/684802/5 "2014-03-29T14:04:43Z")
> [@Wisp00](#): > > The commercial in question: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_TRecqzFIUM](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TRecqzFIUM) > > Here’s another one they’re playing on youtube:[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5A1OsCsaz4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5A1OsCsaz4) Thank you! I couldn’t find the damn thing at all, probably because it’s a Sprint “Framily” ad and not AT&T. All I came up with was those Kia commercials. Anyway. I think your explanation is right. “So… are they family or friends? With the new Sprint plan, it doesn’t matter!” > [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > I feel like this ad should piss me off, but actually it works for me. (Works in the sense of I respect it, and maybe even like it, but not in the sense that it drives me to purchase Sprint service.) The blond girl playing piano and singing a … I want to say Motley Crue? … song in French sells it for me. Yeah, it doesn’t work for me. It doesn’t make any sense, just like their cutesy faux-word “framily,” which just grates. And yeah, I get that they apparently came up with this partly as a riposte to the fake word complaint, but this just digs the hole deeper. I do agree the girl playing the piano was a great touch. The song appears to be “[Home Sweet Home](http://youtu.be/hBiETZFOrFc)”, by the way. I’m just wondering if the publishing company handled the licensing, or if the band actually got involved when Sprint asked for it. I can sort of picture Vince Neil saying “I’m sorry, _what_?” “Yeah, we’re going to have a little blond girl with animated birds flying around her head playing the tune on a piano and singing in French.” “Um. OK. I guess” ---
**Author:** ![Mithras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mithras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithras)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-family-hamster-commercial/684802/6 "2014-03-29T14:24:05Z")
I was similarly confused by the commercial and found that it’s actually based on [commercials from Japan](http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2014/03/24/sprint-turns-to-a-spokes-hamster/). From the link: > [@](#): > > The quirky and effective SoftBank campaign featured a talking dog as the patriarch of an unusual Japanese family with a black son and a maid played by actor Tommy Lee Jones. > … > Sprint’s new ads feature a similarly eclectic family, but this one is headed by a hamster. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-family-hamster-commercial/684802/7 "2014-03-29T19:36:56Z")
Yes, “eclectic” is certainly one word to describe a family headed by a talking hamster. I’m not sure, however, that it’s strong enough. ---
**Author:** ![Abracadebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f04885/32.png) [@Abracadebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abracadebra)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-family-hamster-commercial/684802/8 "2014-03-29T19:51:29Z")
The hamster is voiced by Andrew “Dice” Clay ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-family-hamster-commercial/684802/9 "2014-03-29T22:09:23Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > I’m totally in favor of hamsters in commercials. That sentence would be a GREAT icebreaker. Or maybe the start of a short story. Anyway, it seems like sometimes companies just go batshit insane with their marketing just so they have something memorable out there. Remember the Quiznos Spongmonkeys? ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-family-hamster-commercial/684802/10 "2014-03-30T21:10:14Z")
The commercial with the girl playing piano and singing “Home Sweet Home” in French kind of seems like an OTT Wes Anderson parody to me. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-family-hamster-commercial/684802/11 "2014-03-30T22:54:22Z")
Well anyway, it’s nice to know I can use Sprint and get low rates when I phone my hamster. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-family-hamster-commercial/684802/12 "2014-03-31T01:59:17Z")
So we’re just gonna let slide the fact that Tommy Lee Jones is apparently a maid in a Japenese commercial? ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-family-hamster-commercial/684802/13 "2014-03-31T05:37:20Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > So we’re just gonna let slide the fact that Tommy Lee Jones is apparently a maid in a Japenese commercial? Yeah. I think we all read it and then, as we were told as children, just said, “No.” ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/friends-family-hamster-commercial/684802/14 "2014-04-25T22:40:44Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > So we’re just gonna let slide the fact that Tommy Lee Jones is apparently a maid in a Japenese commercial? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0R–oskfaI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0R--oskfaI) He’s a maid with flashing yellow eyes, which possibly may be laser beams. At least, the family becomes very agitated by them, right before they all grow mono-brows. So, yeah. 😕