Still Cranky
The blog formerly known as "Chronic Fatigue"
Category: Ads Nauseum
-
I know there are a lot of serious problems facing the world today. I'm not going to discuss any of them. Instead, I want to talk about something that is merely seriously annoying: the ubiquitous female speaking style that has infiltrated every corner of American culture. Call it what you will — "Vocal Fry", "Uptalking",…
-
The commercial opens on the Manhattan skyline at dawn. Quick cut to a random close up of some leaves, then a busy New York street scene. The look is edgy, moody. The earnest piano music in the background signals we are about to hear Something Very Important. Cut to an intense looking dude striding…
-
In those halcyon days before the Internet, I, like all Americans, was inundated with nonstop sales pitches. Those pitches came in the form of tv and radio commercials, print ads, outdoor boards, direct mail, and the occasional door hanger. Being bombarded with those traditional forms of marketing was, and still is, annoying (and yes, I'm…
-
There's a new Nutrisystem commercial on the air now, and it's one of the most shocking TV commercials I've ever seen. The spot opens with a haggard looking middle aged woman talking to camera about the dramatic weight loss she achieved with Nutrisystem. Nothing remarkable about that – just another standard Nutrisystem real person "before…
-
This morning, I walked past a sign in front of the Lululemon yoga apparel store in downtown San Francisco. The sign said, "Do one thing a day that scares you." Really? Just one thing? My day is already chocked full of things that scare me; from answering my phone to opening my cable bill or…
-
What does your mayonnaise say about you? It's not a question I had pondered a lot. That is, until I saw the latest round of Miracle Whip commercials. These spots feature attitude-inal twenty-somethings dancing, hanging out and occasionally munching on sandwiches made with Miracle Whip. Against an aggressive music track, we hear a flat, in-your-face…
-
I love writing about bad tv commercials. It's lots of fun – and there is certainly never any shortage of material. But let's face it, with so many crappy spots polluting the airwaves, critiquing them is a bit like shooting fish in a barrel – it's good for a few, cheap laughs, but it's not…
-
One of the unavoidable side effects of working in Advertising is that you view commercials with a very jaundiced eye, to say the least. When I watch a commercial, I don't just see the commercial on the screen; I see the whole back story; I can picture the client meetings…the pitch…even imagine the focus group…
Still Cranky 