Tuesday, November 8, 2011

TV commercials that get better with age

I’ve said many times that I love television commercials. I heard my wife giggling at one of my favorite television commercials last evening. What’s remarkable is the commercial has been airing quite regularly since the beginning of the year and we’ve seen it dozens of times.
She likes it because she said it seems so believable, so real. I agree, and that’s what gives it such staying power. The commercial:

I also like tacos, and Eric gives me the creeps, too.
I heard you giggle.
This situation is so believable, especially in an office setting. Professional relationships are often difficult to define. Secrets are shared and sometimes they come back to haunt you. Johnny-come-lately ultimately looks like an ass after he chides and attempts to embarrass his co-workers after feeling left out only to discover a slow cell phone network is to blame. To complicate matters, a confidence is divulged, and it might haunt both men in the end. Now who has egg on his face?
Immediately following this commercial an E*TRADE baby advertisement ran that been airing since September 2010. It, too, still makes me laugh.

Does Max give you a warning bark when it’s time to sell?
Or do you like this special edition version better?
Nobody knows…how long this commercial will air.
What can you say? Babies are cute and the notion that building and managing a stock portfolio is so easy an infant can master it seems preposterous, yet utterly believable after hearing the little boy explain it. Oh wait, babies can’t talk or think like an adult, or own a tablet or cell phone or eTrade account, or …
As I said, preposterous, yet brilliant, as evidenced by the many other eTrade baby commercials that preceded and followed these two.
Outstanding creative work on all counts. I dare predict the technology displayed will be outdated, and possibly the actors, too, before these commercials grow tiresome.
Did I say I love television commercials?

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