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Anger-inducing commercials have been around nearly as long as the tube itself. Ed McMahon dishing out Alpo live to foam-mouthed dogs might seem quaint in retrospect, but we're betting a lot of kids in coon-skin hats tossed a lot of Eisenhower-era lemonade at their black-and-whites. And just as anger is a many-colored rose, so too did last night's most grating ads cause a veritable rainbow of piss-offedness. Because there is stupid, and then there is stupid. |
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The newest Mentos spot is stupid. Granted, never has so mediocre a candy been given such a boost by an advertising campaign. Much press has been given to the erstwhile European, bizarro candy hawkers and their little doorstop sweets, so we'll lay off the obvious. The new ad shows a young man in a suit, who realizes the bench on which he sits features wet paint. Keeping his wits about him, the lad rolls around on the bench so that his entire suit gets covered, evidently intending to approximate fairly psychotic pinstripes. In other Mentos spots, everything works out (balls get retrieved, manic teens escape their meddling mother...). In this one, the kid is clearly fired. |
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Stupid, yes. But not fall-down-dead saccharine. Not like Hallmark commercials featuring the movie-couple from Father of the Bride. Kimberly Williams and George Newbern carry their roles into an advertising reality where Williams' central personality trait is she checks the back of greeting cards for the Hallmark seal. And then cries. What we'd like to see is Williams pulling this act with her real-life beau, tennis' Pete Sampras. Only problem is Pete wouldn't be able to read the seal without brushing away that unibrow.... |
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Finally, there is stupidity based in the convergence of athlete's foot prevention and chewing gum commercials. When did this happen? One minute we're watching this insane, Jurassic Park 'Cinaburst' spot where the gum takes on a life of its own and crawls around an unsuspecting child's palette ("Burst makes you hungry for gum!"). Next we see a Tinactin ad with this morphed fungus squiggling onto toes. Eerily similar effects. Yuck. |
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And they say only network television encourages foot-in-mouth disease.... |
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