We have about a million threads about commercials that sucks, or make us want to kill ourselves, but that only begs the question–are there any good commercials? I can only think of one, that I’ve seen one time (I barely watch TV, tho, so it could be popular). I think it was for monster.com–a ball from one of those five ball swing-y kinetic energy toys got loose, and rolled through a city until it met up with a bunch of kids playing marbles, with “Go Where You Wanna Go” by the Mamas and the Papas playing in the background. I thought it was really cute.
So are there any good commercials?
Jeno’s Pizza Rolls by Stan Freberg – by far the best American commercial ever produced.
There’s one running right now up here in (Eastern) Canada. It’s by everyone’s favourite company: McDonald’s (who else?):rolleyes:
But this one I find really good.
It opens with a from-above shot of a little 4 or 5 year-old girl (cute as a button) playing with her doll. (BTW, this shot alone is worth the whole commercial).
Father calls from downstairs: Juliet! Dinner.
(Juliet doesn’t answer; father comes to her room)
Father: Juliet, didn’t you hear me calling?
Juliet (still playing with her doll): My name is not Juliet. It’s Princess Charlotte!
Father: Well, Princess Charlotte, if you see Juliet, tell her that we’re going to McDonald’s.
Juliet suddenly realizes that she could be missing out on something big, grabs a framed photo of her and runs after her father.
Juliet: (showing proof of identity) Daddy! Daddy! It’s me: Juliet! Don’t you recognize me?!
I just LOVE that commercial and watch it every time with the same unadulterated pleasure. It definitely should become a classic (even though it’s from McDonald:D)
I think the new 7-Up ‘Taste Test’ commercials are very funny.
Rose
A couple of current favourites that are running in central Canada (and possibly elsewhere) right now:
A couple are looking out their window. They can see in the neighbour’s window–everything in the neighbours’ living room is neat as a pin. I’m paraphrasing the dialogue; I cannot remember it word-for-word:
Woman: Look at that. It’s too neat.
Man: People like that are so uptight.
Suddenly, in the neighbours’ living room, a man dressed in undershirt and boxer shorts runs in, and hides behind an easy chair. He’s followed by a woman in a dominatrix outfit. She hits the sofa with a whip; you can hear the “whump.”
First woman: They don’t look uptight.
Then we see the Ikea logo and something to the effect of “The Organize Your Home Event, Now On At Ikea.”
The second one is really a series for a home-improvement chain called the Building Box. Their mascot is a guy dressed up as a hammer, and they make much of their slogan, which is something like “Really Big Stores, Really Dumb Mascot.”
In one commercial, Hammer (the name he goes by) is roller skating through the garden centre to the Brady Bunch song “Sunshine Day.” He’s trying to help the staff put plants out and such, but he’s not good on the skates and goes crashing through the greenhouse glass.
In another commercial, he’s in the flooring department when he gets the idea to build a disco dance floor, complete with mirrored disco ball, lights, and 70s disco music. He’s dancing with a customer and having a great time when the manager pulls the plug on him–the flooring is for sale, not for playing with, apparently.
In a radio spot that is a favourite of my wife’s, Hammer has a young lady over to his place. She’s impressed with how he used the Building Box to construct such a great bachelor pad. Then we hear a vacuum, and Hammer’s distressed cry of, “Mom! Not when I’ve got a girl over!”
These are the ones that we currently like, but sadly, they are among the few. Most of the current crop of commercials could stand some improvement.
the miller genuine draft commericals:
–the one with the chick doing her luandry cracks me up
–the one with the loud neighbors and the cap on the bed…I wish I had loud neighbors
I started a thread about this a little while ago but no one responded to it, anyway
There is this Nissan Maxima commercial where they play that Suzanne Vega song Tom’s Diner and the sun is setting, then the driver floors it and catches up to the sun to watch it set again. I love this commercial it has a great look a great concpet and I really want a fast car now
Go here for the funniest ad I’ve ever seen:
http://www.adcritic.com/content/john-west-red-salmon-bear-fight.html
My current favorites are:
The Pemmican Beef Jerky commercial. Cracks me up.
The NYS Lottery Bonus 7’s commercial. It’s a spoof on Antiques Roadshow, and I think it’s very well done.
-That bear fight commercial IS damn funny, too. (Hadn’t seen that before I went to the AdCritic page.)
Jman
Along with Wicked Blue, I love the new 7-Up taste test commercial.
I don’t remember for wich beer this was, but its about a foreign guy selling beer at a stadium. His last line is a classic “In my country I was just a man, in america I’m the Beer Man!”.
One of my favorites got pulled from airplay pretty quickly: the Nike ad mocking Friday the Thirteenth movies.
Beautiful blonde (Olympic athlete Suzy ???) lounges in cabin. Jason chainsaws through the door; blonde is in total victim mode. Jason chases screaming blonde out door and into dark woods. Blonde runs; Jason pursues. Blonde runs; Jason’s getting winded. Blonde confidently vaults a woodpile, kicks into fifth-gear and disappears into the distance, leaving Jason to hunch over and blow chunks. Text appears: “Why exercise? You’ll live longer.”
I was so pissed when this ad was yanked off the air for showing women as victims. Huh?
I’m sure that any Aussies out there would remember the Holeproof Antz Pantz commercials first screened in 1989.
Viewers would claim to change channels just to watch the ad and it was a screaming commercial success as well.
Sic 'em Rex
I like pretty much the whole series of ESPN SportsCenter commercials.
I’d like to salute Isuzu for bringing back Joe. First off, they were a hilarious series to begin with, and were broadcast long ago enough to evoke a hint of nostalgia for those days. They are also doing them very well~ constructing a storyline not just trying to resurrect a dead campaign. Perfect self-mockery. Started off with him in a cramped apartment looking back on ‘the days’ a bit bitter at the new ads. Could barely hear the ‘zero down, blah blah’ part of the add at the time. Moved to him getting ‘the call’. YES~ my True Blave and I were caught up in the moment. Then his concept of the new ads, perfectly in character, and now with the quasi-Lifestyles type interview (is that too a nod back to the late eighties?).
Anyway, the new versions are coming out slow enough to keep us from getting too board, it is a nice change from showing SUVs etc. ripping up the back country and injecting testosterone directly into the driver’s leg. Good bit of humor, good bit of creativity. Caps off.
Rhythmdvl
My recent favorite is the one for some new magazione they’ve been playing in Loewe’s theaters here in New York before the movies. It’s a two minute long saga of this crazy woman and her best friend, who is a manequin.
It’s so completely random that it’s hilarious every time I see it.
I love the IKEA commercials. The one Spoons mentioned is so funny. There’s another one with the little kid asking his mom where a specific toy is and she replies, “Top shelf, third drawer, left side, in the back”, or something like that; same idea, getting organized.
Not really a commercial, but the promos that Cartoon Network runs are just too funny. They are showing a typical workday at Cartoon Network, with all the cartoon characters coming in to work. There is one with a food fight in the cafeteria, one with all the sidekicks sitting together, complaining about being “just” sidekicks, and a new one, with Fred Flintstone and 2 others carpooling to work, looking for a space. He sees a spot, looks to the other end of the lane and sees Speed Racer and Scooby Doo in Speed Buggy, they both zoom for the spot, only to be beaten by Judy Jetson, flying in. They are very clever.
I liked the Tiger Woods Nike commercials with Tiger bouncing the golf ball on his iron, then hitting it like a baseball. The new ones are even funnier, they show the outtakes where he misses the ball and can’t keep it on his club. Tiger is laughing. It’s very funny.
My favorites are the two commercials for ETS (I think–it’s some three-letter acronym beginning with E): this year’s showed “the Running of the Squirrels” and last year’s was “Cat Herding.” The cat herding one in particular makes me laugh every time I see it.
I also like the PETA ad that never got aired showing the animatronic cats doing the wild thing to show you should get your cat spayed.