Commercial RAVE Time

[D'Snowth]

We've got two different threads dedicated to ranting about stupid, annoying, and downright disturbing commercials, so we might as well offer up a counterthread for the discussion of commercials that are actually good, such as this one I saw today:

And look: hardly a negative comment!

 

[mr3urious]

Did Harry Partridge do the Dragon Days parts? It looks a lot like something he would create going by its twisted style.

On a similar note, even though I hate prescription drug commercials, I enjoy this one for Symbicort for its lush 2D animation alone.

 

[Drtooth]

You know, I was about to post this as a thread a while back but never got around to it. But you saved me the bother.

Of course, I have an obvious bias when it comes to these things. Yeah, the old "let's toss a cartoon character in here" ones. Sure, there are the easy ones for kid's television...

One of my favorites by the way. Even the Animaniacs Happy Meal promo wasn't quite as much fun.

But how about something a little more obscure for the adults and nostalgia fans?

Shame that commercial was pulled. I only ever saw it once, and I was really obsesses with Mighty Mouse at the time for some reason.

And of course, let's not forget a certain adult cartoon that's been on forever. This one's my favorite just for the gag at the end.

 

[mr3urious]

We all know that creepy and off-putting Honda "Cube" commercial by now, but here's the full version of Honda's "Paper" ad done by stop-motion photographer PES. Would have been easy to do this in CGI, but it's all done with real hands manipulating real paper.

And here's a behind-the-scenes video for good measure.

 

[Drtooth]

While I don't really feel like pasting any examples, I give big props for Arby's current commercials. Mainly due to the energy and humor of the narrator. I just can't get mad at the fact they're making "Gyros" out of roast beef and turkey luncheon meats when there's so much vigor coming out of the narrator. I can't even poke the hole in the logic of pieces of a dead turkey is "having the best day of his life." Heck, even the copy would be "eh...heh heh" at most if it wasn't for a booming voice making it a whole lot funnier.

Seriously. A simple commercial that's got to be cheap, is inoffensive, shows the product, and gives a nice little touch of energy and goofiness? I'm all for that. No models that have never eaten so much as a cracker in their lives taking a gross bite out of a burger the size of their heads, no shaming other fast food companies for having nuggets instead of another sandwich, and certainly no Mr. Bag.

Oh. And on that note, a huge rave for Ralleys/Checkers (of which we don't even get here, but get the ads) taking the hint that he was a terrible mascot and discontinuing those commercials abruptly.

 

[D'Snowth]

Yeah, I think James Earl Jones is having a little more fun doing those commercials than it would seem.

 

[Drtooth]

It's definitely not James Earl Jones. I actually don't know what his name is, but I swore I heard him in the Simpsons episode where Lisa discovers an ancestor's diary that reveals her family was responsible for freeing a slave.

But on the topic of James Earl Jones having too much fun...

 

[D'Snowth]

This is a great commercial:

And creative too! Hardly any use of CGI (except for maybe an explosion). I mean, they put effort into this and the end results are great.

 

[Drtooth]

I have to admit, I actually really enjoyed the new KFC commercials about the Colonel imposters. So much so I was actually disappointed that after who I'm guessing it was Jim Gaffigan, they stopped and made the Colonel a disembodied voice represented by his picture on a flag.

However, I'm extremely happy they brought imposter Colonel back in the form of George Hamilton (or whatever the heck that elderly, extremely tan guy's name is) as the "extra crispy Colonel." Not only is there some darn fine Adam Westing, but they even managed to get a kid that looks like he walked out of the very late 60's, Early 70's with a very Bill Mumy-ish quality to him. Gives it a great retro look down to the casting.

 

[mr3urious]

I also give praise to the "Tips From Former Smokers" PSAs. They manage to take the "Smoking is bad, mmmkay?" message and make it more about "If you want to take up smoking, or continue to smoke, be aware of what you're getting yourself into". I especially like the ones that show some of these smokers quitting and improving their lives because of it, adding a nice bit of optimism compared to other PSAs.

http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/resources/videos/index.html