‘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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‘I was in the pool!’ Remember that? That was funny.

This ancient ad for McDonald’s failed product roll-out of the McD.L.T. features a young and spry Jason Alexander. In the song if this is Alexander really singing it’s a bit of a surprise to hear a competent singing voice coming out of Jerry’s screaming sidekick. And watch how cat-like he is when he jumps into frame.

Aside from it being made of NastyMeat®, the McD.L.T. required an abominable amount of Styrofoam to keep the hot things hot and the cool things cool. While a good idea in theory, having to assemble a burger flies in the face of the entire concept of fast food. Why not give me two separate cups, one with ice, and one with liquid and have me mix them together you jackasses. What am I, a machine?

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Oh crap an orc

World of Warcraft is making a strange TV ad campaign bid for more players to get hooked into paying a monthly membership. I guess if it works for eHarmony, it will work for another online venture that does the opposite of trying to make you meet real life people.

The videos feature Mr. T and William Shatner, and can be found on this page. Strangely I found the Mr. T spot to be more funny, maybe because I can actually imagine him playing the game. Shatner would probably just farm for gold or some shit like that.

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