TV Is Not Dead

The 60 second commercial you’re about to see, really highlights all that’s wrong with today’s retail TV advertising.  

See if you agree me …

So what did you think?  Bears and humans reversing roles … Pretty clever, huh?  And funny as all get out.  And what about the way it was shot?  The camera moves were exceptional.  Watch this commercial just once and you’ll remember it.  You might even tell a friend about it.

You:  “Hey, Bob … did you see that commercial with the bear carrying the golf club?”

Friend:  “Yeah … how did they do that?  Those bear costumes were so real looking!”

You:  “The Company must have spent a fortune on it.” 

Friend:  “No doubt.  Did you catch who it was for?”

You:  (Long pause) Something to do with barbeque, right?

Friend:  I think so?

You:  Oh well, I’ll have to pay closer attention next time.   

By-the-way, in case you missed it (And it would be easy to do, since the product was never mentioned in the audio and visually appeared on the screen for just under 4 seconds), the spot titled “Bears” was for Lloyd’s Barbeque Ribs. 

O.K. Forget about the bears and the fact you can only sorta, kinda, maybe, remember the product.  Did you find your mouth watering after watching the spot?

If you were like me, you always crave food right after watching sloppy, disheveled looking people eat off a dirty kitchen floor. 

And did you like food photography.  Brief but exquisite, wasn’t it.  You remember it, don’t you? The 2 second shot of what I think were cold ribs, sitting on a plate next to an unidentifiable side dish.

Oh well, you gotta cut corners somewhere.  Big time directors don’t come cheap. And food stylists are overrated.  After all, everyone knows what ribs are supposed to look like … but a bear wielding a golf club – now that’s pure entertainment!

Joking aside, this commercial is embarrassing for anyone who has ever made an “honest” living creating retail advertising.   

This mess is what happens when ad agencies are more interested in making movies than moving products.

If this is what the agency for Lloyd’s thinks is good retail advertising, I have a suggestion for them.  Let the bears produce the next commercial … it couldn’t be any worse.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 4:30 pm and is filed under TV advertising. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.