Good Ads, Bad Ads

            Ever since my youth, I’ve always had a fascination with commercials. My all-time favorites were the Budweiser Frogs from the mid-90s. Whoever thought of having a lizard hire a ferret to kill three frogs was a genius (those ads aired during Super Bowl XXXII in 1997). In this space tonight, I’ll quickly run through some ads that are getting it done, and a couple that aren’t working out so well. Thankfully, there is nothing as bad as the old Chevrolet “THIS IS OUR COUNTRY” ads (John Mellencamp should’ve been deported to Istanbul for that song. If I live to be 97 years old, I know I’ll be able to recite every word of that song that aired during every commercial of every NFL game for 3 years. Even if I’m completely senile). 

GETTING IT DONE

1. Geico – Between the “Does the little pig go we-we-we all the way home?” and “Does a woodchuck chuck wood?” spots, Geico has been on a roll. The little pig ad is just about perfect. I’m not sure who came up with the idea to stick the pig in a booster seat while holding a pinwheel, but those touches push it to the next level.
2. Dos Equis – We haven’t seen to much of the Most Interesting Man in the World Lately, but he’s still worthy of making the cut.
3. Miller Lite – The man up ads are solid. My personal favorite is the one with the guy dressed up in the cat costume.
4. Nike/Jordan – Lebron’s ad is about 30 seconds to long, but the buzz it has generated makes it compelling. Dwayne Wade’s spot has very clever inside jokes that make it enjoyable. Nike rarely misses with an ad (with an exception being the Tiger Woods spot with his deceased father providing the voice-over).

SHOULD BE TAKEN OFF THE AIR

1. NBA TV’s “Big Heads Ad” – I’ve watched way too much NBA in the last 3 weeks, so this ad has begun to drive me crazy. It’s way too creepy. I’m not sure if the creator of this ad wanted me to start hating the NBA because of it, but that’s been the result.
2. Skechers – I’m just going to come out and say it. Shape Ups are a joke. It would’ve been a good idea for the Skechers people to not listen to Jimmy from a hidden-classic episode of “Seinfeld” suggest a style of footwear. How they can sucker people into paying $60 to a $100 for these things, I’ll never know. What I do know is that the ad with Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is terrible (despite Malone’s moustache’s heroic effort to save it. It’s an epic ‘stache).
3. TNT Drama’s – TNT dumps way to much money into these commercials. Perhaps if they used that money on the actual shows themselves, they would be much better.

I'll be traveling this weekend to visit some family. Look out for my "10 Awesome Things That Happened This Past Weekend" column that should be posted sometime Monday. Drive On.