Mr. Peanut

Commercial: The ... Represents
Product: Peanuts
Company: Planters
               

Mr. Peanut wears a lot of accessories, we've seen them for years, decades even. This commercial explains what each item means. The hat, the cane, the monocle each stand for great taste. Suddenly, as the voice over says "the gloves" the scene changes to a colorful sunset in some beautiful, remote, isolated location and the narrator's words describe the image with as much artistic beauty. Quite the surprise! Then the shoes come along, which again stand for great taste, and the commercial ends with the Planters pitch. The commercial is both surprising and entertaining. It makes you pause a moment in whatever you are thinking or doing to go "Huh? What did he just say?", which then has you paying attention to the TV for the end of the commercial. Great tactic.

But then they had to go mess it up and change the gloves to standing for nothing, "Mr. Peanut just likes gloves". That just doesn't have the same impact. It's bland, not surprising, and the word "nothing" makes the mind think "oh okay, this isn't important". The revised commercial doesn't grab the audience at all.

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Mind Bender

Commercial: Sheep Boys
Product: Blended Flavors
Company: Skittles
               

WHAT is the point of this commercial?! It's well acted. Pretty funny when you just accept and not question. But I mean really. How does human heads on sheep eating off a stump equate to Skittles? Other than they talk about how good new blended flavor Skittles are.

Just a very random commercial. "Blend the Rainbow. Taste the Rainbow." I guess it's blending humans with sheep is like blending orange with mango. Not that I have any idea why sheep!

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Am I confused?

Commercial: Bottled Ship
Product: Beer
Company: Corona?
               

A sailboat appears to float into an empty glass bottle. As the camera zooms out we see a man sitting on a beach next to a woman and a small table of beers. He's holding up an empty beer bottle horizontally to the water which gives the illusion of a ship in a bottle.

Simple, cute, pretty, and a nice break from all the commercials that yell at you or talk too much.

But whatever happened to the tag line "Change your whole latitude"? That was clever and catchy. "Miles away from ordinary" is just so plain, and falls flat in comparison. It is the same company that used "Change your whole latitude", right?

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Everyman is the Commonman

Commercial: Couch Father
Product: Adoption
Company: AdoptUSKids
               

The father is asleep on the couch, the child is sitting next to him watching TV. "You Light Up My Life" plays in the background as the child, not at all with an expression that matches the song, looks at the father who is snoring with mouth open. The child then looks back at the TV, and mimicks the father's position on the couch. The tag line is: "You don't have to be a hero to be a hero. Just being there makes all the difference."

And then there's the radio one where the son says "there's this girl I kindof like" and the father says all he needs to do is impress her, a proceeds to tell him to grunt a lot around her. The tag line is: "You don't have to be perfect to be a perfect parent. Just being there makes all the difference."

There are other TV and radio commercials too. The message for each is punctuated with either a humorous or a sappy-sweet common real life situation. I think the commercials help portray adoption as a means to a normal family, and say you don't have to be special or do anything different to raise a child you didn't biologically create. Hopefully they have helped more adults think about adoption as an option.

You can see all the different ads currently running here.

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Listen to the Fine Print

Commercial: Fatal Medicinal
Product: Enbrel
Company: Multiple
               

Rheumatoid arthritis is the problem, Enbrel is the solution. That's this commercial's message, sent across with soft colors and music, believable people, and the sympathetic yet "you can take your life back" schtick. We've all heard and seen this type of commercial. The newest approved pill that can help or solve a specific problem. In this case the commercial itself is fine, done well enough.

Have you ever paid attention to the monotone face-paced voice that lists off the side effects? These types of commercials are required by law to list out side effects that occurred in trials. "... side effects may include ... blah blah blah," it speeds so that unless you are paying close attention you miss what's being said, yet it drones so you loose interest and won't pay attention. A good tactic when the message is "Serious side effects, some fatal, include...".

Fatal?! Why in the world would anyone want to take something that might kill them to ease joint pain, or any non-threatening condition?

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