‘Yabba dabba doo’ is like a racial slur to these guys

After a brief eclipse, Geico has apparently started running the cavemen ads again. This ad, which aired during the Super Bowl, features two cavemen panning the television series. They cite some common fan complaints: that the makeup looked pretty awful; and they didn’t even use real cavemen. (Or the original cavemen actors).

I have it on hearsay that the company was purposely not running cavemen ads while the television show was on. That’s good, because, you know, you wouldn’t want this whole thing done to death or anything.

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With some time to digest on the 2008 Super Bowl Ads and sober up, I think it’s clear that another horrible hive-mind theme has emerged on the day some in the industry call ‘the Super Bowl of advertising’. Last year the airwaves were rife with talking animals, (an observation which pissed off, of all people, the California Cheese Council, go figure. I have framed your cease and desist letter guys, it helps motivate me when times are bad).

But this year the offensive theme is something not quite as bad: good old all American racism.

Sales Genie has to take the cake with their ads calling out Indians and Chinese for having hilarious accents, lots of kids, and bad grammar. (Click here for the first ad, click here for the second).

Personally I think there’s nothing blatantly offensive about this kind of humor, where I think they make a giant blunder is that they were most certainly trying to appeal to business owners and sales people specifically in these two nationalities. What better way to appeal to your potential customers than to completely and utterly mock them.

(Oh there is more…)

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If you’re like me, you slept through the Super Bowl because you were hung over all day from drinking the night before. This is an ad you didn’t see even if you stayed conscious during the game, supposedly because it was banned by Fox from the air. Come on, Fox hasn’t cared about airing complete and utter garbage since the first episode of Herman’s Head. There, I said it.

Whether or not it was a viral market stunt, the ad is disappointing to say the least. The spoof the ol’ gettin’ out of your limo with your naughty bits hanging out gag is, let’s be honest, a really old joke by the time Mad TV finds out about it. Sorry Fox, we’re still friends, you know I’m joking. wink wink no I’m not wink wink

The ad might have been funnier if they didn’t have a voice over guy repeating the word ‘beaver’ over and over during the spot. Though I guess if you’re the kind of person who explodes with laughter the first time you hear the word beaver, it’s going to keep being funny. Forever.

Beaver.

We’ll cover more ads later in the week. Or not, as my drinking schedule dictates.

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Pictured above: Offending Ad

awfcom89: there have been a lot of purported “controversies” over the Super Bowl ads this year.

rosco-9000: you mean snickers has men kissing

awfcom89: right, and the countless other controversies

rosco-9000: like what

awfcom89: well anna nicole smith died

rosco-9000: that wasn’t really related to the super bowl ads

awfcom89: or WAS it? (conspiracy!!)

rosco-9000: :O omg!

awfcom89: yeah, think about it. anyway i thought we could help out fedEx today by fabricating some controversy around their “moon-base ad”, which would lead to more publicity of the ad, which, scientifically, leads to more people shipping items to the moon via Federal Express 14-Day Guanranteed Moon Delivery

(Oh there is more…)

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Career Builder 2007 Spot 1Super Bowl XLI Commercial

Today it’s yet another Super Bowl post. It really seems like a lot of spots debuted during the game, and without a lot of outstanding ads they all sort of became background noise.

This campaign for Career Builders dot com aired during the Super Bowl. The commercials have a lot of pluses: great settings, good acting and characters, and three different spots to eliminate repetition.

This first ad is probably my favorite. I enjoy the remark to the furious delivery guy the most. “You don’t even work here!”.

This ad is another showcase of the “rich old white man” boss / financial figure (we see him sitting in the middle during the opening shot. Compare to the rich old white man high-priced financial adviser in the eTrade ad from the previous post. It’s an unfair generalization, that’s what it is.

Career Builder 2007 Spot 2Super Bowl XLI Commercial

And here’s more of the rich old white man, giving wedgies. Disgusting. I think I’m going to write a letter.

Again, this is more of the same from the previous ad. It’s an entertaining commercial, and is very visual. The props are also integrated into the idea quite well, there’s a water-cooler Vietcong-era trap, and a guy with pinchy paper holders all over his body.
I also like the idea that there are islands of bliss outside the office environment. The hot secretary is immune to the turmoil, as are the executives. In the final ad we also see a male security guard totally unaffected by the chaos.

Career Builder 2007 Spot 3Super Bowl XLI Commercial

And here’s the last Career Builder ad. I quite like the shot of the group being caught in the net. It actually looks like a working trap, and it’s believable that the group is snared. I enjoy little details like this.

This was a well-done Super Bowl campaign, though I think it was deliberately not a gamble, so it the ads settle for above average instead of being something that gets a lot of attention. In the long run I have a lot more respect for these kind of ads, especially when they incorporate a theme that ties into the service or product the ads are selling. The “office as jungle” has a direct meaning to their target customers. Some other themes from the Super Bowl, such as “Snickers makes men kiss each other” has markedly less meaning to most customers.

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