TV Tuesday: Waiting for the Break

[yourlibrarian]

Pause/interactive ads are increasingly coming to streamers. It's possible that traditional ad campaigns will become less the norm in the future. Are there particular ones you remember fondly, or which were almost like a show themselves? Did any of them succeed in selling their product to you?

Comments

[jo]

I Am Canadian was the slogan of Molson Canadian beer from 1994 to 2005, and was also the subject of a popular ad campaign centred on Canadian patriotism and nationalism, the most famous example of which was an ad entitled "The Rant". The ad starred a man named Joe: an average Canadian, standing in a movie theatre, with a cinema screen behind him showing different images relating to Canadian culture. Joe proceeds to give a speech about what is it to be a Canadian and what it is not to be a Canadian, making particular efforts to distinguish himself both from common Canadian stereotypes of Americans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiUmEehRcGQ

Then, a year or so ago, when Trump was making his repeated "51st State" references about Canada, the guy who played Joe in the "The Rant" came back and did a follow-up ad called "We Are Canadian": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OzbmriDgQc

"The Rant" never made me buy Molsons beer (I didn't drink beer at all back then), but I did and still do love the ad and its follow-up.

[yourlibrarian]

Great example!

The one that first sprang to my mind was the one that teamed up Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy. I could vaguely remember it was for a car but the make made no impression on me.

What did was the fannishness of it all, apparently because the ad's writer was in fact a Trek fan. It particularly amused me that it was Quinto who played the straight man to Nimoy's numerous Trek allusions.

As I rarely see ads, I likely came across it because someone here on Dreamwidth posted about it. I was interested to see, when I went looking for an ad link, that quite a few people referenced it in connection to Nimoy's death.

[jo]

The Blue Jays and their various partners have a good number of amusing ads. Michael Cena does some (with some of the players) for Rogers (the company that owns the Jays and is also one of Canada's major telecommunications companies). TD Bank ("the Official Bank of the Toronto Blue Jays") has a bunch featuring George Springer that are really cute. I am already a Rogers customer (phone, internet and cable), but the TD Bank ads haven't made me switch banks yet (not that I'm really attached to my bank, it just feels like too much effort to switch everything to a new one).

[yourlibrarian]

I imagine that athletes must be particularly ubiquitous in ads, both because their sports affiliation is expected to catch the attention of male viewers, and also because they can be used for localized advertising.

[jo]

I meant Michael Cera in the above post -- not Cena. But maybe you figured that out!

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

In general, advertising doesn't attract me; it is grating and irritating. I am far more likely to form a negative association than a positive one. There used to be amusing little songs on some; that's almost vanished. Maybe once or twice a year I find an ad entertaining -- Air B&B had a cute Santa one last Christmas. But I don't buy things because of them and I never interact with them. Even if I see something that looks interesting, I will only look it up somewhere else. Basically, don't encourage the pickpockets.

Re: Thoughts

[yourlibrarian]

Funny you should mention the change in jingles. I agree, it's something that would stand out (and, given the ones which have endured, amazingly effective!) Now I think it's more likely than an existing song gets licensed for the ad. But I remember mentioning the same thing to my partner, that the use of them has declined a lot.

(Sidenote: Still love Barry Manilow's jingles medley)

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

"Wall-to-wall minitunes! You used to call them commercials." :D

It's usually cheaper to reuse something than to commission something new. Now, of course, it's even cheaper to use AI slop. >_< Well, if a company can't be arsed to make a halfway-competent ad for their product, that makes me think the product is also cheap crap.

The main reason I buy most things in person, not based on ads, is so that I can check for quality. But on that note, a category of ad that can catch my attention is one which shows how durable the product is. If I'm looking at a row of products, and I remember one had an ad about its durability, then I will compare that product to the others in hopes of verifying its durability.