In general, I hate TV advertisments. I find them annoying, if not offensive, and often I decide not to buy a product based on them, which is the opposite effect intended. But once in a while, an ad comes along that is different. Thanks to the internet, I've seen the best beer ad ever. It's funny and it's honest (we're spending a lot of money in this big ad to sell beer) as opposed to the usual "drink this and this woman will go home with you".
The product is remembered, unlike many ads. Too often the ad overshadows the product. For example, there was a beer ad during the Super Bowl last year where they attempt to get a novice skydiver to jump out of a airplane by throwing a six pack of the beer outside to coax him to go after it. The plan fails because the pilot jumps out instead. I have no memory of what beer they were advertising.
In this ad, there's drama - People in colorful but uniform clothes running toward each other... Who are they? Will there be a battle? There's no weapons... The music is Carl Orrf's "O, Fortuna" from The Carmina Burana, but the words are different, and funny. The subtitles not only help understand what is being said, which was no doubt a concern to the producers, but let you sing along. As the ad progresses you get the big picture, literally.
Posted by Bob at January 16, 2006 08:07 AM