I rap all day I rap all night Man I sure do miss my purple box kite

I will never forget the day Brittany Spears announced she and Kevin Federline were filing for divorce. Specifically, I will never forget because it was election day. I had been checking the news online, and of course election news coverage dominated all the front pages. I even speculated what news event could possibly trump the election and force it off the front page. It would have to be something huge, like a meteor hitting a city, and not just any city like Detroit, a meteor hitting Dallas or something like that. Then I saw this. CNN dot com added an urgent, red-alert level breaking news banner above the fold announcing the split. Awesome priorities, America!

Nationwide secured Brittany’s ex to appear in a Super Bowl ad, as part of their “life comes at you fast” campaign. You might remember their ad featuring Fabio navigating a gondala, then becoming an old withered man after they pass under a bridge. The content of this ad, apparently, portrays Kevin Federline daydreaming he is a huge rap star, then he snaps out of it and he is working in a fast food restaurant.

(Oh there is more…)

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I am classy like this but more in the style of Eazy-E

I’ve holed myself up in the office today trying to finish some layouts for a book I’m working on, so it would take something very special to pull me away from a deadline. This two-minute extravaganza for the Flea Market of Montgomery is exactly special enough to do this. (Thank you brad for bringing this to my attention).

I have a very specific standard for posting very local commercials. On the whole they all tend to look “bad” by national standards, and it’s really just a lack of technical expertise available at the level the commercials are being made. If that was the only standard I picked commercials by the site would just be full of local spots. Also, I don’t want to embarrass any local producers or business people who were genuinely trying to make a funny / good commercial and it’s just not up-to-snuff by national or regional standards. I try to pick spots that are meant to be corny or hilarious, or are just so ridiculous me pointing them out isn’t breaking any news (or hurting any feelings that aren’t already trampled all over).

Words really can’t substitute watching this spot. If you are at work and can’t see the spot right now, it’s a two minute rap pitching the fact that the Montgomery Flea Market is much like a mini mall.

It’s hilarious, but at the same time strangely effective. I am reminded of the simplistic beauty of other local spots such as this one by Hampstead Mulch (North Carolina) or the spots for the (sadly) defunct Red Devil Games of Red Bank, New Jersey. With this spot, it’s bad but endearingly so. I’m sure the business has many comments from customers every day that they have seen the commercial. It’s advertising that gets into your brain, and a quirk of marketing that only seems to be produced at, and effective on, the local level.

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From USA Today

The news that Orville Redenbacher (the company) was digitally reviving Orville Redenbacher (the ex-human) escaped my notice, so seeing their flagship commercial during the Golden Globes was the first I knew about this. And even then, I wasn’t sure if they had just hired a look-alike, or gone all out and recreated him using dark sorcery.

This story in USA Today gives some good background information on the process and decision to do this. The accompanying video link is somewhat crappy, and unfortunately I don’t have the video to post yet. You can find the ad and some other original Redenbacher spots on the YouTube.

Unlike what companies like The Gap have done to disgrace dead celebrities, I don’t have a moral problem with what this new Redencacher ad does. Whether or not it gets good results, it’s not really grave-robbing to bring the man back to sell the product. After all, he did it while he was alive.

My only real question is, why not just find a look-alike? It seems like a (financially) painful process to go through to recreate a human being every time you need a new ad. In any event it looks rather nice, though from a content point of view it’s nothing mind-blowing.

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#6: Chrysler / SunCom co-op

I’m not big on top 10 “whatever” lists, and didn’t plan on doing one for the worst commercials of 2006. Until I ran into a few lists that other publications had done. Namely, this list by Slate.com made me cock my head to the side like a confused dog and whimper out a confused grunt. Really Slate, do you really think these are the first ten worst commercials of the year? Or are they just the first ten commercials you found? In fact one of them (the Fudgems one) after viewing I decided must be one of the BEST of 2006. (I did agree with the article on at least one contender.)

(Oh there is more…)

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