Ok you know what? You’re all fired.
| QuickTime link to the :30 spot, which will pop in a new window. 2.5 MB. |
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| I know that I’m being sexually harassed by this I just don’t know how |
In this commercial for Sprint we see a classic example of sexual harassment in the office place. The poor guy walking into the room just wants to make some copies but there are men dancing everywhere, packages flying to and fro about the room. He comes up with some excuse as to why they should get back to working, but he’s immediately shot down, and the horrible horrible dancing immediately picks back up.
The man actually acted very incorrectly in directly confronting the dancing men. If you ever enter a room and are confronted by this situation, quietly back out at once. Attempting to disturb the men from their dancing often provokes a violent territorial response, and can lead to maulings and even death. The intervening individual was lucky to escape with his life.
| QuickTime link to the :30 spot, which will pop in a new window. 2.5 MB. |
Comment // April 21st, 2006 // 7:18 am
I’ve seen that ad on at least two “funniest commericals” shows, and I just don’t get it. I think I have the same response as the man walking in should have had :D
Comment // April 23rd, 2006 // 1:41 am
Super ad - one of my favorites, but a question looms: If Nextel can make it that easy, has this company considered outsourcing? Or, at the very least, dancing lessons? :)
Comment // April 27th, 2006 // 2:51 pm
I LOVE THIS AD! It makes me laugh every time I see it. It’s for a shipping company, showing that theyve done their jobs and can now hang out and have fun. It makes me laugh every time…
Comment // April 28th, 2006 // 1:00 pm
I LOV THIS CAD IT IS SO FUNNY (OOOO BABY BABY)
Comment // May 4th, 2006 // 7:59 pm
“In this commercial for Sprint we see a classic example of sexual harassment in the office place. The poor guy walking into the room just wants to make some copies but there are men dancing everywhere, packages flying to and fro about the room. He comes up with some excuse as to why they should get back to working, but he’s immediately shot down, and the horrible horrible dancing immediately picks back up.”
How is this a classic example of sexual harassment? Who is being sexually harassed?
Why would you think the guy came into the room to make photocopies? The only reason the guy enters the room is so the commercials can continue.
” there are men dancing everywhere” there are 2 guys dancing in the same spot for the duration of the commercial.
“packages flying to and fro about the room.” Well, quess i’d better call my optometrist posthaste.
“He comes up with some excuse as to why they should get back to working, but he’s immediately shot down, and the horrible horrible dancing”
He asks the question “Whats going on here.”
Again, so that the commercial can continue. and then states “We don’t know how many converters we have in stock. Nobody knows where our trucks are? We don’t know where (person’s name Mac?) is.”
“he’s immediately shot down”
In response to his questions?/statements the two dancers tell him how many converters are in stock,the location of a truck, and where Mac is.
“the horrible horrible dancing”
There are contexts under which the suggestive dancing would be “sexual harassment”,but not here.
to paraphrase Aristotle’
“To sneer is easy. To sneer at the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way is difficult.”
Comment // May 4th, 2006 // 9:08 pm
It’s a joke little man, calm down.
Comment // May 10th, 2006 // 12:37 am
I hate this commercial. it’s annoying and stupid.
Comment // May 13th, 2006 // 1:03 am
i dont see how this is awful.i think its funny but maybe its just a matter of taste.ever think you guys over analyze these things?
Comment // May 13th, 2006 // 1:40 pm
I don’t think this commercial is that bad.
Comment // May 15th, 2006 // 3:58 am
Not only rife with sexual harassment, this commercial is racially discriminatory. The asian dude is relegated to a subtle head-bob and doesn’t have any interaction with Sprint’s amazing services. Perhaps he was sexually intimidated into his role as boombox button presser?
Comment // May 15th, 2006 // 4:33 pm
My theory is Sprint wanted to do an ad with sexy ladies dancing, but they only had the budget for average-looking office workers wiggling disturbingly.
Comment // May 26th, 2006 // 11:16 am
One comment to cover them all.
Gunn’s rule:
If the commercial is made by a large telecom company (ATT, MCI, Sprint)…..or a cellular one, it will be AWFUL.
Awful in terms of, out of touch, lame, over the top, smarmy, ….just plain stupid. Probably desribes their senior mgt. pretty well. Remember, Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert spent his formative career years at Pacific Bell in California.
Comment // May 30th, 2006 // 5:53 pm
Gotta disagree with you on this one. I think the spot is funny and entertaining, while carrying the freight by tastefully demonstrating the benefits of the service and such. But mostly funny. In fact, I think it’s one of the few bright spots in TV commercials in recent years, along with some Fedex spots and Citi indentity theft. Also, I thought it was for Nextel, but honestly, cell giants are buying each other so fast I can’t really keep up. And I’m not sure how many people think there’s a big difference from one to the next.
Comment // June 6th, 2006 // 8:21 pm
Yea, you’re wrong to be hatin’ this ad. Yes, it’s dumb but the execution of the actors and the editing makes it great.
Note the timing after the finish talking and begin dancing … and of course, only nerds dancing makes it worthwhile …
Not the greatest ad of all time but certainly not bad and way, way better than the other one in the series of the locker room where the guy knocks out his friend with his cell phone … not only does it not make sense but the acting, timing and directing was poor.
Comment // June 9th, 2006 // 11:53 am
While this isn’t one of my most favorite spots, I agree also that I think it’s funny.
A reader asked what criteria a spot has to meet to be posted here, and really a spot just needs to have some kind of annoying or strange quality to it. Since what is annoying or bothersome is subjective sometimes I rely on other people’s opinions to pick a spot - “why don’t you have this spot up?” - and find out a spot I think isn’t all that bad is the spawn of Satan to other people.
The Ford “beep beep” spot for example passed under my radar completely, I saw it once but didn’t think it was that bad, until a friend of mine demanded I put it up. 90 comments later I discovered it was pretty universally reviled.
I try to be fair and not just post spots I personally hate, and I also try to post spots that are bad for interesting reasons. And again sometimes spots are so bad they become good, which I would consider to be a “perfect ten” spot to editorialize on. In truth there aren’t many spots I “hate”, and find most bad commercials amusing to some degree (obviously).
Sometimes it’s not content alone that drives people batty, but the frequency with which the spots are run on television. The “beep beep” spot is a good example of this, I really feel for people like myself who don’t really watch a lot of TV it’s hard to grasp the psychological damage that hearing this spot every other commercial break does to a viewer.
That’s fine if you don’t agree that a spot on the site is bad, I might even agree myself. Your comments and opinions are more than welcome.
Comment // June 9th, 2006 // 7:24 pm
Hans Kelly wins on this one, IMHO.
As for my own comment: whenever I see this commercial, I mentally applaud the two dancers. Would YOU let yourself be seen doing that kind of thing on national TV? (Actually, I would, if they paid me a couple hundred bucks, but that’s not the point.)
Comment // June 20th, 2006 // 2:07 am
this spot is brilliant! i have always loved this one. the dancing alone i could watch for hours….LOL.