The framing is definitely weird. Television is the medium of the close-up. They use so many full body head-to-toe shots in these commercials (the YouTube link provided by RivkahChaya isn’t quite as bad as some of Trivago’s other commercials but it’s pretty bad). Full body shots on T.V. work when there’s a frame of reference- the character in a real space, we can see where his feet are planted on the ground, we have reference point for scale i.e. standing at a counter ordering coffee or standing by a doorway or standing in front of a car.
These full body shots against a green screen are unconventional… but they’re not unconventional enough for it to stand out as an odd or unusual choice. So, as viewers we get this feeling of “something ain’t right” without being able to put a finger on just what it is.
Even worse than the full body shots are the shot from about the knee up. That framing is just terrible and looks completely weird.
Add to that uneasiness for the viewer, one gets the impression that the full body shots are meant to show him off as a sexy man. Grey haired and mature (he’s a financially stable homeowner who goes on vacations with Travago, ladies!) but with firm flat stomach and looks great in jeans (when he takes you for a weekend getaway, ladies, he’ll have the stamina to make it a weekend you’ll remember!), they’re definitely trying to make a sex symbol out of him.
So, we’ve got the uneasiness of the odd camera framing, with a sense that the desired effect is to turn us on. It ends up feeling manipulative- and a manipulative appeal to sex is baseline creepy.
The guy’s face is just wrong. He may be a perfectly nice person, but his eyes have a creepy soul-injured expression and his mouth conveys a weak, twisted disposition. Someone with those features trying to sell you anything should and does make peoples’ instinctive alarms clang.
It really highlights his creep factor. The disheveled appearance, the slightly off accent, the weird framing. . … The actor looks a little like Freddie Prinze Jr. Who was it?
I completely agree. I remember the first time I saw one of the earlier commercials, the very first impression that came to mind was “this guy is creepy”, and the newer commercials are no different in that respect. I’m sure he’s a perfectly nice person in real life, but something about the way he comes across in those commercials just screams “pervert”.
That might be a big part of it. It’s maybe the creepiness of a middle-aged man who should be acting dignified instead trying to appear sexy. The sort of look that, if he was a school teacher, I would transfer my kids elsewhere and advise the authorities to keep an eye on him.
ETA: It’s amazing to me that so many people are seeing this, yet neither the ad agency nor the sponsor can see it.