5/21/2009 - Jack in the Box - Mini Sirloin Burgers

I like the White Castle burgers occasionally, but I don't really get the mini-burger phenomenon. I like my burgers big... with multiple beef patties and grease oozing from every pore. But these days, fast food places seem to be downsizing with items like snack wraps and mini burgers. One would think that the restaurant cooks would protest such a trend since it would probably mean more work to them (flipping three patties at a time instead of one).

While I generally don't care for the concept of mini burgers, I really like the Jack in the Box commercial for their version:



Everything from the song, to the midgets (or should i say dwarfs?), to the mini cattle is hilarious. I especially like the expression on the gopher's face.

5/5/2009 - Laptop Hunters

There is much we can derive from those new "I'm a PC" ads from Microsoft where "laptop hunters" go out to do comparison shopping for laptops that are $1000. These ads are probably the most direct attack on Apple and relies on just one argument: price. Of course in this economy, that aspect is nothing to sneeze at. Yet, nobody ever talks about the difference in the Total Cost of Ownership between a typical PC and Mac laptop. Sure, the initial price of a PC laptop may be less, but that doesn't take into account all the antivirus and antimalware applications you have to buy just to keep the PC healthy. Those programs have yearly subscription fees, which can add up over time. With all that added bloatware on top of a resource intensive operating system, you're going to need more memory as well, just to keep things humming. There's also the notion that you get what you pay for. I'm sure Microsoft has some kind of gag order on the release of all those customer satisfaction surveys.

And you have to love the controversy that surrounded this particular commercial:



It turns out that "Lauren" is not a real "laptop hunter" after all. She's an actress hired by Microsoft's ad people to attempt to relate to the average consumer. Yes, Lauren, you're not cool enough to be a Mac person.

3/8/2009 - Spoiled Girl

If you're not from Arizona, I couldn't possibly relay how disappointed I was with the last Superbowl. If it wasn't for that interception before halftime, this world would be a different place. And for those who were watching just for the commercials, there wasn't much entertainment to be had either. The only commercial that stood out to me was this one for Cheeto's:



There's just something about the laid-back evilness of Chester the Cat in this commercial that tickles me. I think he should be the next James Bond villain.

12/13/2008 - Bruce Lee plays ping pong with nunchuck

There have been many famous actors who died before they could reach their pinnacle of success: James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, and most recently Heath Ledger. If I could choose one actor to have dodged his untimely fate, it would have to be Bruce Lee. Really, there is no one better at practicing and displaying the martial arts other than the Little Dragon himself. His movies may not have been the greatest in terms of acting and story, but when Bruce Lee was fighting onscreen, you simply could not take your eyes off it. And in Way of the Dragon/Return of the Dragon, it was indeed Bruce Lee who kicked Chuck Norris' ass. What I would give to see the completed Game of Death movie and the many movies that would have followed if he didn't die so prematurely. It makes me curse the fates every time I think about it.

So when I saw this video, I had to smile. It may be a fake, but Bruce was such an incredible martial artist that it wouldn't surprise me if it was really him in a display of his nunchuck skills:

7/20/2008 - Unfortunately Placed Hotels.com Ad

Some people say that there are no coincidences in life... that everything is ruled by fate. If that is so, then the advertisers of Hotels.com got dealt a cruel hand by fate:

4/14/2008 - ads vs. reality

You know those advertisements for fast food joints like Wendy's or McDonald's and how good they make the burgers and other foods look? So what is your reaction when you actually get the food and it looks nothing like what was on TV? Well, you really can't expect minimum wage workers to do the same work as the food artists they have in the advertising department. You might think we have it bad over here, but it's even worse overseas:



Now that I think about it, Carl's Jr.'s commercials are probably the only ones that come closest to telling it like it is: with messy, drippy burgers prominently displayed in their ads. Oh boy, now I'm getting hungry... don't bother me, I'm gonna eat.

2/4/2008 - PERFECTVILLE Still Population 1

Being an Apple Macintosh fanatic, you'd think that my favorite Superbowl commercial would be the famous 1984 ad that started it all, and it was... until yesterday. I'm a Mac fan, but I'm also a Miami Dolphins fan. It was pretty disappointing season this year to say the least... with the Fins only winning ONE game, Tom Brady erasing Dan Marino's records, and the Patriots on their way to becoming the 2nd undefeated team, something only the 1972 Dolphins team has accomplished. That is the one record that hasn't been taken away from them and it has stood for 36 years. In fact, whenever the last "undefeated" team loses a game during the season, veterans of the '72 team toast to a bottle of champagne.

Well, it was looking really unlikely that the bottle would be opened towards the end of yesterday's game. I mean, it looked like every other come-from-behind win by the Patriots the past few weeks. A team would get really close to beating the Pats, but then Brady would turn it on and throw the winning touchdown. It all seemed inevitable that the results would be the same, with New England being the favorite by 13 points, and the Giants being only a Wild Card team. But then a miracle happened. It was truly like out of the movies... a real Rocky story... only this time Rocky beats Apollo in the first movie. I'm sure everybody has seen the highlights of the last drive by Eli Manning, but highlights are nothing like watching it live. The pass to Tyree will be the stuff of legend. And the pass to Burress allowed the '72 Dolphins to open that bottle.

This bridge to history was something that was not lost to Reebok's advertising agency. They planned an ad that would air immediately after the Superbowl depending on the outcome of the game. I don't know what the commercial would have been like if the Patriots had won... probably a passing of the torch or something. But the commerical they did air? PERFECT.

1/9/2008 - Matrix style flipbook animation

After watching the Simpsons movie, I think it's time for a revival of traditionally animated movies. Computer animated movies are cool and nice to look at, but they do look artificial sometimes. Hand-drawn animation seems more organic because animators don't just cut and paste and let the computer go on autopilot to create their work. Things have to look right frame by frame and that's not easy to do. I'm not asking for more of the same old Disney fairy tales that try to appeal to all ages by putting in contemporary pop-culture elements. I'd like to see some sci-fi or adventure stuff. Take a look at this commercial that features hand-draw flipbook style animation and imagine the possibilities:

11/30/2007 - Wacky Potato Chip Commercial

I'm sure you've seen some pretty strange commercials before... some that has almost nothing to do with the product that is being advertised. But nothing, and I mean nothing, will prepare you for this next video. This comes from our friends in Japan, who I have mentioned before as having some weird cultural phenomena that we here in the West just don't get. Even with those cultural differences, however, I can't imagine how they perceive this commercial as being even close to mainstream. Okay, enough with the incredulous commentary... you watch for yourself, and you just have to say... W.T.F.?!

7/9/2007 - Pepto Bismol Monsters

I thought it was just Japan that has weird commercials. I guess we have some weird ones over here too. The only thing I can say after watching this Pepto Bismol commercial is... What Were They Thinking?! Were they trying to create some kind of new dance craze like the Macarena? What purpose do the Godzilla monsters serve? What kind of advertising executive would even sign off on a commercial like this? Does this make you want to buy Pepto Bismol? Actually, it is giving me an upset stomach...

5/18/2007 - Berlitz Ad -Learn English German Humor

I'm not going to give away the punchline of this commercial by giving any details. Needless to say, if there was any commercial deserving to be on the Superbowl, it's this one: