Holiday Cheer: K-Mart's Ball BELL-ringing Joe Boxer Ad

Very cute. A little racy. Sure to tick someone off. Therefore, I love it!

 

Blast from the Past: Cookies!

Blast from the Past is often a challenge for me, because first I have to decide on a topic. Should it be relevant to anything going on, or random? Once I have a topic, should it be in depth with tons of commentary, or do I just let the clips speak for themselves? And the biggie: how much time will it take? Because sometimes, especially if I'm going heavy on the commentary, a typical post can take an hour. And that's after brain-storming on what to write about!

This week, I decided I don't need some big newsworthy tie-in. And I don't need a lot of commentary when the subject is purely nostalgic: cookies! From the past of course. The commercials speak to our pop-culture history and need no further help from me. Look close, you might see some famous faces. So, dig in. . .
 

I'm hungry now. Happy Monday!

Blast from the Past Present: Insurance Commercials

Allstate's "Mayhem" character (Dean Winters).

Every Sunday, I run a feature on the blog called Blast from the Past, usually populated by YouTube videos on a single topic. It can be classic commercials, "lost" hits of the 80s, whatever strikes my fancy. Sometimes, it's even relevant to current events! This one is not on the weekend, it's not from the past, and it's relevant only to current events in my life.

When I got my most recent car insurance bill from my insurer (hint, their jingle goes, "We are ______, buh-ba-duh-bum-bump-bump-bump!"), the cost for half a year was--by far--the highest it's ever been. I have a 4-1/2-year-old mid-sized sedan. Entry level, four-cylinder, basic transportation. Nothing fancy. So why was the price climbing? My insurance company--let's call them Charmer's---said it was going up for everyone, especially in Nevada, and yada yada. So why was The Other Half's insurance on his 1/2-year-old Scion xB more than $150 cheaper than mine? Well, we decided not to take it anymore. We did a little research, and found another company--let's call them Flibberty Smoochual--and managed to get a rate for both cars that was less than just mine before! Crazy, right?

Crazier is how much money insurance companies--including my old and new ones--spend on advertising. And since we went through this transition, I'm noticing them more. If you pay attention, you'll notice it too. Here are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. All of them are long-running campaigns, very recognizable, with regular characters, themes and/or jingles. Some have more than one concurrent campaigns. How much cheaper would our rates be if they cut back on the commercials by about half?

And that is just off the top of my head. Of course, these companies cover cars, homes, life and other things, and have many other commercials. As I said, I never noticed how many until it was at the forefront of my mind. I wonder what percentage of prime time advertising is just insurance companies?

Busybody "Million Moms" Protest Amazon Over Gay Kindle Ad

You may have seen the following ad, whilst watching American Idol or Raising Hope, or some other network program:

And you may have noticed that the (very handsome, hot-legged) man in the ad turns out to be (surprise!) gay at the end. The ad is cute, and the twist is sort of novel for a mainstream company like Amazon, but overall, it is a very tame commercial.

Well the (very likely over-counted) One Million Moms have got their panties in a twist, and are calling for a boycott or a reshoot of the ad, or some such nonsense. Because (GASP!) kids might see it! Now, maybe I'm missing it, but watch the ad again. . .did you see any gay sex there? Were the two gay men even within spitting distance of each other? Could you even tell which of the other two guys was the man's husband? No. The Kindle ad merely presents a reality, that there are some guys out there who are married to other guys. It is a fact of life, everybody, like it or not. The commercial does not "promote" homosexuality (were such a thing even possible), it doesn't glorify the guy sex, and it doesn't portray gay marriage in a "positive light," but rather a matter-of-fact, neutral one.

As a gay forty-something, I found the ad refreshing (if a little goofy). Because--and listen up, less than a million moms--I've been a consumer of TV, movies, magazines and other media for most of my life, and I've seen an infinite number of heterosexual couples portrayed in much more graphic terms. Where kids can see!

[Excerpt]

One Million Moms concerned gay Kindle is the ruination of America

I knew without a doubt that this gay-friendly commercial would cheese off all the right people. I have been checking the One Million Moms website everyday since this commercial was first released. It took them a while, but true to form, today they went full on scold mode and are threatening a boycott of Amazon. . .

Read more at: DailyKos

My Favorite 2013 Super Bowl Ad: Amy Poehler for Best Buy

Best Buy may be a company on life support, but they couldn't have done better than hiring Amy Poehler to give them some buzz. Apparently, Amy can make anything funny. I really want to know why Parks and Recreation isn't a bigger hit!

Blast from the Past: Best Super Bowl Commercials

This week's edition of Blast from the Past is surely not original, but it is entertaining! Over the years, the Super Bowl has become more than just a football game. I--for example--have less interest in football than I have in obscure Scandinavian poetry. But I find myself at a Super Bowl party almost every year, and sometimes host them. I'm there for the snacks, the revelry, occasionally the game, and mostly, the commercials. But this is not a recent phenomenon. It's been going on for a while now.




And, since the Blogger software tried to eat this post as I wrote it, I'm going to call this one finished! Hope your team won, or at least you were relieved that it wasn't a blowout. Happy Monday, everybody.

Blast from the Past: Classic 70s TV Commercials

Sorry kids, this weekend was kind of busy, and I'm going to have to rely on a rerun for Blast from the Past. Hopefully, you haven't seen these yet!

Original post:

When I decided years ago to make Blast from the Past a regular weekly feature, what I didn't think about was the level of difficulty. Not only can the research be a chore, but so is the process of putting them into a post. Blogger--the software I use to build the blog--is notoriously bad at handling repeated cutting and pasting. It just eats the videos, or sometimes repeats them. It's frustrating.

By now though, I've got quite a backlog of this feature. So this week I decided to go with a rerun. Which is okay, because on any given day I've got a different audience anyway! And this one is chock full of nostalgia. Just go with it, I'm tired.

1. Calgon - Ancient Chinese secret, huh?
2. Pringles "New Fangled" Potato Chips - Did you forget they came in a paper sleeve? Now, they just let them crumble in the package.
3. Slinky - Every kid had one. Every kid got tired of them in about 10 minutes. Every kid eventually tangled them up.
4. Gnip Gnop - Somebody was stoned when they came up with the name.
5. Count Chocula and Frankenberry Cereal - Gayest. Cartoon characters. Ever. Ok, yeah, there was Snagglepuss.
6. Coca-Cola - "I'd like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony. . ." Dirty hippies!
7. Burger King - I couldn't find the "Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce. . ." one, but this'll do nicely.
8. Ultra Brite - The late, lovely Farrah Fawcett in one of her earliest TV spots.

Blast from the Past: The Cars I've Owned!

I've previously run (and rerun) a blog post on the cars I've owned. But I never tried to find commercials for them all. I think it's about time I did!

1. My first car was a 1973(ish) Toyota Corolla. This ad misses the mark by about six years. But I'm still not sure if it was a '73, '74 or '75.
2. My second car was a 1980 Datsun 210. The one in the ad is a year older-- and a hatchback--where mine had a trunk. But close!



3. My third car, a present for graduation, was a 1978 Dodge Colt Station Wagon. Try to find a commercial for THAT! And believe it or not I did, but missed it by a year. Mine did NOT have faux wood grain sides, however.
4. This was the first car I bought for myself, the 1980 Toyota Celica. And while the commercial is EXCATLY the right year and car. . .they used a 1979 model for the ad! You can tell, because the '80 had rectangular headlights and a different grille.



5. After paying off my first car, I got restless and bought an '86 Chevrolet Cavalier at auction (for $2490!), only two years old. Mine was the red, sporty model.
6. My sixth car was an ill-advised purchase, also at auction. The '87 Nissan Pulsar was cute, but it leaked and had all sorts of problems.



7. When my Pulsar threw a timing chain, and turned into sculpture, I bought a 1989 Mazda 626 Turbo hatchback. Loved that car! In Japan, it was apparently called the Capella, as shown in this ad.
8. After the Mazda was near death, I bought a 1998 Jeep Wrangler, which had been a vehicle I'd wanted all my life. Since I held onto it for nine years, you can be sure I loved it. But all good things must come to an end. . .



9. And we come to my current car, which is oddly enough, currently at the body shop after a minor collision. The 2009 Mitsubishi Galant--which is only superficially different from the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Galant--may not win any awards, but I love it. And I don't expect to add a tenth car for a while.

So, that's it for now. Happy Monday!

Blast from the Past: Ugly Cars of the 1970s, Pt. 2!

Continuing last week's Blast from the past theme, here is another batch of the ugly cars of the 1970s. And please note, that the first car in the list--though a 1980 model billed as "the first Chevy of the 80s"--was being sold in April 1979! And the '70 Ford Maverick may have been released in 1969, but it was sold well into the 1970s. Mmmkay?

1. Chevy Citation (1980) - This ugly car was the next size up from a Chevette. . .with no visible improvements. And what's the deal with the missing back wheels in the ad? Who thought that was a good idea?

2. Ford Maverick (1970) - This one doesn't look ugly to me anymore. But it did in the seventies. It seemed to me to be the Pinto's big brother.




3. Mustang II (1976) - Yes, there were a couple of models of the Mustang II that managed to be somewhat attractive. But there were some homely ones too. More importantly, how could they put the Mustang brand on a Pinto?


4. Dodge Omni (1978) - Chrysler's projects were often inferior imitations of other manufacturer's products back in the old days, but seldom were they as ugly as the Rabbit/Chevette knockoff Dodge Omni.




5. Plymouth Horizon TC3 (1979) - Identical to the Omni except in name, was the Horizon. They stretched the brand with this somewhat more attractive fastback version. But it was still pretty ugly.

6. AMC Matador (1977) - Mitt Romney's dad's company produced a huge amount of ugly. But the Matador--with it's Pacer-esque front end--was it's own special kind.




7. Mercury Bobcat (1976) - When you've got two car divisions, you apparently have to spread the ugly around. Lincoln-Mercury produced this upscale version of the Pinto to virtually no acclaim.


8. Oldsmobile Starfire (1975) - This was apparently Olds' answer to the Chevrolet Vega/Monza. Having lived through the 70s myself, this one is apparently burned from my memory. Evidently though, they manage to make over 125 thousand of them in five model years.



Okay, so I think that will do it for this week's edition of Blast from the Past, and from this category. Have a great week everybody. Happy Monday!

Blast from the Past: Cat Food! (Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow!)

Okay, so we just had friends over for some cards and some libations, and. . .well. . .I'm not really up for a whole bunch of exposition here. That doesn't mean you can't have fun with some of these videos, though. There's a whole lot of nostalgia here. You might have forgotten, but you'll go right back to the time these first aired. For example, what's the food cats ask for by name?









Happy Monday!

What's With the General Electric Commercials?

I know that General Electric has been doing ads for many decades. They may even have been making non-specific "feel good" ads for the brand. I guess I never paid much attention before. But have you noticed how often a GE commercial is played lately?  Like this one with the dancing elephant:



Or this one with a line dance:



The elephant is cute, the songs are catchy. And for some reason, the people in the bio suits line dancing is adorable. But what is for sale here? Am I supposed to buy GE stock? Random GE products? Maybe I'm just supposed to have warm and fuzzy feelings for a multinational corporate conglomerate?

UPDATE: to add "The Electric Cattle"

My Favorite Super Bowl Commercial: Best Buy

Ozzy Osbourne, Justin Bieber and a lot of humor about new technology.

My 2nd Favorite Super Bowl Ad: Doritos "Shock Collar"

Man's best friend gets revenge. Very funny.



See more Super Bowl ads here: Advertising Age

Very Strange Quizno's " Tasty Torpedo" Commercial

The last post I put up was about a goofy site that posts "WTF?"-style videos and pictures. Stuff like that just makes me laugh. 'Cause I'm a dork.

Last night, I was watching TV, and the following commercial came on. It raised both my and The Other Half's eyebrows, and I wondered if we were seeing/hearing something that wasn't there. Upon review, we were both right. It absolutely belongs on Picture is Unrelated.

Eliza Dushku's Alien Hulu Commercial

Everybody saw the Alec Baldwin Hulu commercial, touting the video service as a brain softener. It was probably one of the best commercials run during Super Bowl XLIII. Now, former Buffy the Vampire Slayer and current Dollhouse star Eliza Dushku has the second installment of what is hopefully a series of ads.

Bizarre Eye Candy: Old Spice's "Two Things"

Image from source, Old Spice

Have you seen those Old Spice commercials with the centaur? Other than the fact that the actor is good lookin', the first thing most people notice (dirty minds think alike) is that Mr. Centaur is a mare. For some reason, I got curious about the genesis of this ad, and I stumbled upon Old Spice's actual site. And that's where it gets really weird.

They have an interactive section, where you can turn Centaur dude into other combinations of "two things." And it is clear that the ad guys were up into the wee hours, with many beers, Funyons, and a possible illegal substance or two. The octopus/man? Sure, I get that, it has a sci-fi vibe, and is an interesting visual. But the half man/half mozzarella stick? You lost me there guys. But the cannon and the tank? Well, I'm frankly surprised you got away with those!

Source: Old Spice

Steelers Win, Whoop-de-do!

Oh, I just don't care. I went to a friend's house for Super Bowl XXXLIII, and had fun. Cheated on my diet, ate some snacks, had several beers, and had a good time. But the game itself? Meh. Sure, even I got caught up in the final minutes, but only because my friends were rooting for Pittsburgh. Whatever.

Here's my favorite commercial, for HULU, starring Alec Baldwin. . .

Commercials I Hate: Super Bowl First Quarter

No, not the commercials I hate. The Commercials I Hate blog has up a video analyzing the Super Bowl's first quarter commercials. I didn't hate them all, but I liked his take on things.

My Favorite Super Bowl XLII Ads

I had no figurative nor literal investment in the Super Bowl yesterday. The only thing (besides the company of my friends) to interest me was the commercials. Well, until the very last minute--literally--where even I got a little excited, and understood what was going on!

But the commercials have become nearly as big an event as the game itself, and surely overshadow the halftime show, which is always lame (sorry Mr. Petty). Here are my favorite ads from yesterday.

Video Piracy: Is it Like Stealing a Car?

Here's the latest video clip from Commercials I Hate, which has a terrific (and funny) analysis of the issues involved in downloading copyrighted materials. The issue is a little less cut-and-dry from the "you wouldn't steal a car" argument. And it got me to thinking about just how much I myself have paid for various versions of the same movies; VHS, LaserDisc, DVD. . .

It's over $150 for The Rocky Horror Picture Show alone! And that doesn't count two LPs, two cassette tapes, the CD, and a box set DVD! Oh, and the sequel, Shock Treatment on LP, CD, VHS and DVD. I think if you put that all together, you get somewhere north of $400! Check it out: