The man most likely to be responsible for the ad would be Jim Ward, the head of marketing at Lucasfilm Ltd. (not LucasArts).
You can see the horror here:
http://cgi.theforce.net/theforce/tfn.cgi?storyID=18598
(I didn’t think it was bad at all, but I’ve only seen it once, not fifty times.)
Thanks Lobot!
And quite frankly, this might be the worst TV ad for a DVD ever.
Also given the size of the campaign and the controlling nature of George Lucas it is hard to imagine that his grubbly little fingerprints were not on this.
Zette- the ewoks? The horror, the horror. . .
I haven’t gone to watch it yet, but BraheSilver’s description is enough to make me agree with the OP.
Wow, that was horrible. What’s worse, I got Mr. Sea a card once (about 6 years ago) that had a picture of Yoda on the outside, and on the inside it said “Yoda man.”
Is Skywalker Ranch a completely hermetically sealed environment? Good grief. It’s like reading one of those 60’s Bob Haney comics where he’s trying to sound like what he thinks a teenager sounds like.
And I’m a big Star Wars fan as well. So I like to think. It gets harder every day to remain one.
Seems like it’s targeted at 1 year olds.
I thought the ad was some kind of joke too! LOL
I am glad I am not the only one!
I would think that with all the money they have made from Star Wars years ago that they would come up with something better - not to mention the money they have all made recently off of the 2 new movies - come on!!! you’re ruining a legend cuz YODA is the man!! but damn give me a break that is the stupidist ad I have seen in years!!!
:smack:
okay I feel better now!!! WHEW!!! 
I read it here before I saw the thing. To quote the bard, “Sweet Monkey Jesus! I close my eyes and I can still see it!”
I feel a little odd finally admitting this in public. I mean, I’ve criticized Captain-Out-of-Touch before (thanks, elf6c, perfect that was) but, not to this extent…
The best Star Wars related stuff is all the result of someone besides Lucas. The movie he had the most creative trouble with is generally regarded as the best of the bunch… The non-canon novels, specifically Zahn and Stackpole, IMHO, are far and away a lot more fun to read than the ‘official novelizations’ of the films, or approved stuff like Shadows of the Empire.
It’s like he burned out his imagination on the setting and the first batch of characters, and now that the emperor’s buck-ass-nekkid, no one around him has the guts to tell him his ass is scaring the kids.
I used to think Star Wars was cool. Then I watched the first three movies.
Huh. Guess I had to be around in 1977 to get it.
And yes, that was without a doubt the stupidest ad for anything I ever saw. I couldn’t decide whether to sit there with my mouth hanging open or start laughing.
Not only was it a bad slogan, it looks like the whole commercial was though up and produced in 10 minutes, for $5.
thought*
Skeezix, the novels ARE canon! It’s the policy of LFL. Go to theforce.net
I saw the commercial-yes, it was stupid. And besides, shouldn’t it be, “Yoda the man is!”
Well…
Maybe, but you do realize it’s a play on words?
“Yo The Man” = “You’re The Man”
I’m sure you knew this… but just to make sure.
Yeah, we get it, Diff T, the problem is that, aside from being the kind of slogan that even a used car dealer would have qualms about using, it just doesn’t even remotely fit the character or the movie.
It’s kind of like advertising The Godfather with hip-hop music, running the film back-and-forth to make Al Pacino look like he’s dancing while some announcer shouts “Mickey C in the house!”
I finally saw the ad. Ad Nauseum this weekend. It’s worse than I imagined.
I’ve seen the ad, and it hasn’t made me lose any repect for Lucas. On the other hand, I: hate all three of the movies in the orginal trilogy; was able to sit through Phantom Menace without screaming(an improvement over the 1st 3!) but 90% of the reason I could bear to watch it was due solely to me liking the cast; and skipped this latest craptastic movie.
Putting my dislike of the series aside, it still makes me sad that it’s taken 25 years to release 5 movies. Does that make Lucas a slacker icon?
I saw the ad (and several related AOTC ads) this weekend as well. So much for it getting pulled. sigh
Though the Yodaman ad has to be the worst of the bunch, all of the TV ads for the AOTC DVD are pretty damn horrid. Same style, just without the stoo-pid slogan.
And yeah, Diff T I think one would have to be pretty dim not to get the “play on words” there. The fact that it’s so painfully obvious is what makes it so bad!