William Blake would be happy with the SDMB as we cover both sides of the issues. You have or should go to this thread to rant about commercials you hate. Now rave about the commericals you love.
I’m a fan of the KidsWB shows and their crossover commercials. They haven’t been as good lately as they were. Two classics involving Pokémon and Batmand Beyond:
Ash Ketchum agrues with the older Bruce Wayne about a “pokémon” he just caught. At the end of the commercial we see that Ash has Terry in a Pokéball.
Terry asks Bruce who the new threat in Gotham is. After Terry goes through a list of baddies Bruce scrolls up a picture of Pikachu on the batcave’s monitor. Cut to a Pokémon battle scene.
A slightly more grown up great commercial is for Levi’s hip huggers. Its’ a 30 second spot with a catchy song underneath scenes of two very attractive girls trying on different pairs of hip huggers. Beautiful. For the girls: wear jeans like this and your butt will look that good. For the guys: buy jeans like this and your girlfriend’s butt will look that good.
A few years ago, there was one for … what? A search egine of some sort? Well, anyway, all it was: a guy in his underwear running up and down grassy hills, trying in vain to grab hold of a duck or something that was running away from him. I didn’t get it for a while, but eventually, I had a total epiphany!
“Wild Goose Chase”
Also, I really, REALLY like the ones they’re running now for KitKats. The ones where people dance like idiots. The best one is the professional-looking businessman flopping around on the floor and doing a furious jig on top of his desk.
Cartoon Network commercials, where they mix animation and live action.
For instance, Yogi Bear being refused entry to the studio by security guards because he forgot his ID tag. Or the guy whose trip to work is extremely eventful because he lives in Townsville.
I love some of the the Volkswagen commercials of the past few years. There was a Jetta one where a couple was driving down the street and everything they saw was in sync with the music. The Beetle Convertable teaser commercial was great (the one that had the song Mr. Blue Sky).
Miller Lite usually has good commercials. The campaign where commercials were approved by Dick (an ad exec) were great. “Damn…Vikings!”
Terry Tate Office Linebacker still makes me laugh.
sniff I miss free AdCritic. I can’t believe we have to pay for ads now.
The Honda Accord ad from England where all of the auto parts hit one another in a Rube Goldberg set up. One right after the other. Took them 605 takes to film. See it here
(flash 6 required)
This one grew on me…it’s the one for Goodyear tires. People are waiting in a garage lounge for their tires to be replaced. One guy has a little Goodyear blimp. The guy next to him says “Where’d you get the blimp?” First guy replies “Got it for free with a set of Goodyear tires.” Second guy turns to his wife and says “I want a set of Goodyear tires!” She pats his knee and says “OK honey.”
This is marketing genius. The commercial appeals to guys who are really just big kids who still like toys. It also appeals to wives who think their husbands are really just big kids who still like toys. The ad pretty much says “We’re not saying we have good tires. We’re saying we’re going to give you a cool toy if you buy our tires.” They’re admitting up front they’re bribing you.
Any of the Playstation 2 commercials for “Ratchet & Clank”.
Ray gun that turns guy into a chicken, missle launcher that misses target and takes out a building, inflatable guy on riding mower that get nailed by a van.
They’re all done to look like amateur videos made by some young guys and something goes terribly wrong and they all start cracking up.
I liked the Blockbuster one with the rabbit and hamster - “Shake it Carl! Shake what your mama gave you!” OK, it really disturbed me at first, but then I got to like it.
I also really liked the NHL commercials (I think for ESPN, but could be wrong) where it would be something totally else and suddenly there’d be a hockey player in the middle of it. Since I love hockey and basketball, to me, is a bunch of pituitary mutants running around in their underwear, I especially liked the one with the goalie sitting on the basketball net. I’d been saying for years that there was something wrong with a sport where goaltending is illegal, and somebody finally agreed with me.
Current favorite is the video phone one with the guy dancing around with a hedgehog in his pants. I would probably be the girl dating that guy. Except my parents would be more like, “Well, what about the time you… (insert embarrassing situation here)?”
Just about every Visa Check commercial… the one with the multiple rabbits, the one with "six degrees of Kevin Bacon, the one with Bob Dole, all of 'em.
I will second the Mitsubishi commercials, as well as the Visa cards. I also enjoy the UPS Dale Jarrett spots. The one with the simulated race, and the truck takes out the car, resulting in "Dang you big brown truck!* was always my favorite.
The Stroh’s beer commercial, where the punch line is, “Alex! You better be drinking your water!” Alex is a golden retriever.
Or a commercial for a financial services company that ran during the Super Bowl. For thirty seconds, all kinds of the most bizarre stuff imaginable happens on screens, with monkeys, stage props, and I had no idea what was happening. The only line was at the end, where the announcer says (regretfully), “Well, we just wasted two million dollars. What are you doing with your money?” I wish I could still remember the name of the company - they deserve their success.
Afflac or however it’s spelled, that duck just quacks me up!
The new Snapple commercial where the bottles are in Mexico or some such and the guinea - bulls get lose. I was laughing my butt off. Got even funnier when I tried to tell the Hubby about it.
That’s all for now, need stimuli trigger more favorites.