The Staples commercial with the old lady.

Cafe Society
1

Is the lady totally senile and doesn’t realize she’s taking pictures with a stapler?

Or is she trying to shame her family because of the lame gift?

I always thought it was the first, until someone mentioned different.

But, I don’t really buy the second explanation. . .

For one, they’re saying, “don’t get a stapler at Staples. Get a digital camera.” Dang! Isn’t the “stapler” their flagship product?

Now, at the end she gives the (commercial) camera a look. My buddy seems to indicate it means she’s in on the joke. I thought it was more like, “why do I need to take so many pictures?”

2

The latter - she’s trying to shame them.

3

She’s hinting.

It’s not Xmas yet, they’re setting up the tree and stuff. So she’s hinting to them to buy her limited income ass a digicam.

4

Staples is making the brilliant decision to make us think at first that the l’il old lady has lost her marbles. Then we get the hilarious reveal that she’s hinting that she wants a digital camera. It’s especially funny the way she walks away shaking her head and muttering to herself. This conveys the message that she needs to act this way to get her Christmas wishes through to her incredibly dense family.

Of course, all this is unnecessary. After all, when you’re out shopping for your octogenarian relatives, isn’t your first choice always to go for high-end technology?

5

Paraphrased from the narrator: “Grandma’s hinting at something this year.”

My reaction, every time I see this: “She’s hinting she has senile dementia.”

I think their ad company dropped the ball on this one.

6

AHHHHH! Its all so clear now! Grandpa’s pants-wetting and violent outbursts were hints that he wanted a DVD player for Columbus Day!

How could we have been so blind?

7

I too find the commercial disturbing. The clues that granny is hinting that she wants a camera are very subtle and judging by the family’s looks they aren’t getting it. So if granny is really hinting that she wants a new camera, boy will she be surprised when she finds herself in the nursing home!

8

Oh, shoot! And I just orderd 5 of those new improved staplers to give as gifts. I thought they took pictures. (Just kidding on the previous sentence.)(see the Staples stapler thread elsewhere.) (and tell me how to import into a new thread)

9

I think Staples has changed the commercial slightly from when they first started airing it. There’s a voiceover that tells the family to take Grandma’s hint and get her the camera, but I think the voiceover is new.

I don’t think it was there at first – just Grandma’s disgusted sigh as she left the room.

Maybe they got some complaints. ?