AdNausea

I am having a slow time of doing my taxes. Mostly because I procrastinate. But I have never gone to someone (besides my mom) to help me with them. If I did, though, H&R Block would be the last thing on my mind, probably. Why? This first commercial is… eh.  Almost no personality (at least none that I see) and it’s just… simple.

These next couple, though, were awesome. I wonder why none of these made it to the SuperBowl? The cupid one is my favorite. Who gets it? I DO! Tax guys are heartless, sometimes. Lol. So of course an arrow to the heart wouldn’t hurt him.

Everyone who’s left their house or turned on a television or radio in the past year knows that we’re in a recession. A lot of companies are folding and closing doors because they just can’t cope and lots of things that people consider “luxuries” or “unnecessary” aren’t being bought. One of these things is insurance. yes, it’s the law to have car insurance and it’s nice to have home insurance, etc. But when times are hard, you tend to overlook things like “legal” and forget to buy insurance.

Another thing to note is that a lot of people are losing faith in companies they’ve been with for years and companies they’re thinking about investing in or putting money into. Now, I’ve had Allstate insurance for a long time and I lost faith in them for reasons that had nothing to do with the economy. But after seeing their new commercial today… I have to give them credit. They’re approaching the problem of our recession without skirting around it. I really like this commercial. It has a nice hopeful feeling and if I didn’t hate them for other reasons, the commercial would make me like the company even more.

Product placement used to be something that people normally saw in movies and television shows. I mean, that’s how commercials started really. The housewife in the old black and whites would put creamer in her husbands coffee and he’d ask, “What kind of creamer is this, honey?” And she’d hold the bottle up to show the audience (and her husband) and shamelessly plug the product. However, times have changed and it’s usually done more tastefully.

Even movies that do it subtly get on my nerves. But the one place I’m really liking it, is in games. More and more video games are plugging products in a way that makes complete sense (and some that aren’t) and here’s a list:

Atari’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure - features Apple iPods and Montana Gold spray paint. Makes sense.

Need for Speed features Castol Syntec quick-lube shops, as well as Best Buy, Cingular Wireless, Burger King and Old Spice.

CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder is a crime-solving game that features Visa’s fraud-protection service. It helps players crack cases by sending notices when a credit card is stolen. I love this sample because it’s not just a product placement, it’s a feature placement, too.

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow has players using Sony Ericcson phones to receive clues.

In The Sims Online, you can buy McDonald’s food for your character when they get hungry and the computers they use in the game have Intel sounds.

True Crime: Streets of Los Angeles features various Puma products.

Which ones do you guys play? Have you noticed it in other games?

Now, this isn’t so much advertising, but it is the promotion of Resident Evil 5. I’m not a devoted fan of the game, but I know that it’s scary and has zombies in it. So of course you can’t just put a sign up on the Best Buy front door saying “It’s here!” It sounds like one Pennsylvania Best Buy knows what they’re doing.

What started off as building a makeshift haunted house in the store and having a few employees dress up as zombies for the sale of the game has exploded into a huge event and is picking up attention around every corner. Now it is going to include a large mass of zombies instead of just a few, live chainsaws, fake blood everywhere, big scares and they’re teaming up with the US Army and getting some real army men with real M16s to shoot blanks. Co-Sponsorship and promotion is awesome!

I’m glad to see someone doing something like this, because hard-core gamers (like a few I know) don’t like spending $60 on a game that they’ll beat in 2 days or less. A game is fun, but the experience with buying it and the advertising that leads to it can make or break a game. And I know a lot of people are looking forward to this.

On a side note, it’d be interesting to see if there’s Army product placement in the game… maybe you start off in an army base or see posters for the US Army. There’s got to be something, right?

A continuation of yesterday’s post about as-seen-on-television products I would definitely buy, here are some that are completely… freakin’ useless.

1. Snuggy - What is it? It’s a warm blanket wrap with arm sleeves, so you can cuddle on the couch with your dog and stay warm, or pick up the phone without pulling your arm out of your blanket. Why is it useless? It’s a blanket. And both colors are terribly ugly. And the family dressed all in Snuggies looks like a fleece-covered cult.

2. Turbie Twist - What is it? It’s a magical cloth that will dry your hair if you wrap it around your head after you get out of the shower. Why is it useless? It’s a stupid towel! That’s all it is!

3. Fun Slides Carpet Skates - What is it? Strap on foot accessories that make gliding around on carpet as easy as skating around on ice. Why is it useless?
Because… well, the commercial is terrible. But also because it’s just begging you to replace your carpet over and over again.

4. A Bagel Slicer -What is it? This is basically a guillotine for your bagel. It’ll slice it nice and perfect and is the best thing since a knife. Why is it useless? Because it’s not the best thing since a knife. A knife can cut other things, too, not just bagels. We all have bagels to cut, occasionally, but I don’t think I cut enough bagels for this to pay for itself.

So, during my days of unemployment, I realized how many freaking infomercials are out there. All of them are annoying, most of them are a waste of money and some of them, I’d actually buy.

So here’s my list of infomercial products I’d actually buy:

1. There’s a closet organizer hanger thing that I really like. SB and I have so many clothes and if we had taller closets, this would work well. I like watching the saleswoman explain over and over how it works.

2. Mighty Putty - how cool is this? Something that can mold, sand, shape and attach things and do it so strongly that a semi truck can’t break it!

3. Dust Mop Slippers - Despite the bad name (how original is that?) this is ingenious. I mean, I squirt water on the floor and rub my sock covered foot across it (or a paper towl with my foot if I’m feeling classy) anyway, might as well use a product that was born and bred for that purpose.

4. Pedi-Paws - Our dog keeps his nails pretty short in front from chasing things on the cement, but his back nails are always longer. And this looks so easy! So… he got it for Christmas and it is AWESOME! But it’s stinky… burning nails. Yuck.

5. Bend-a-roos - (or AKA colored-wax-covered-pieces-of-string-a-roos!) Which is basically what they are. But they sure look neat-o.

What do you guys think? Who owns these? Who loves “as seen on tv” things?

Yesterday I did a post about some of my favorite Superbowl commercials. Today… I’m going to post one including ads that were, well… Safe. I know the Superbowl isn’t the place you want to try something completely new and innovative, but for that amount of money, why not go a little exciting and push the envelope some? The following commercials are sitting safely in the “comfortable zone.”

Potato head - If you’re like me, you guessed where this was going as soon as you heard the Missus nagging. Come on! Potato heads = removable mouths = quiet wife. Who didn’t see this coming? Bridgestone… you should be ashamed. Although it does LOOK nice.

Taco Bell - this one is completely safe. “So… they fall in love fast, and that’s possible because Taco Bell is fast.” And the parents at the end don’t save it at all.

This one for GoDaddy.com is very bland. Number one, what does a hot girl (or two of them) have to do with GoDaddy? A website where you can buy a domain and web address. Nothing! She’s not even that hot. Is she?

And lastly… Bud Light. None of their ads were good. Actually, the other two I didn’t like were worse than this one. But… this one was the biggest disappointment because it could have been amazing! It came from a concept that won an online advertising contest, which is awesome, because someone came up with this idea and saw it made and aired during the biggest event on television. Kudos for the effort. The point is… you can tell that it’s an average Joe who created the commercial. It’s pretty much a template. Give them two things that seem terrible, then suggest getting rid of our product… then make them realize how much better our product is by throwing them out of the window. Makes sense. Although I do like the part where he gets thrown out of the window.

Which ones did you guys hate? Which ones did you love? Do you disagree with me on these or agree? Let me know! Show me some Superbowl Love.

Is pretty much already over.

So, it’s 9:04pm local time and the big game is still going on, but the commercials are what I came for! Here’s a recap of some of my favorites this year.

Jason Statham stars in “Chase” for Audi. I’m not a fan of normal car commercials, but I like this approach a lot. It shows how well the car handles, accelerates and brakes, without having to show it on a winding country road. Good job Audi!

Ladybugs, dragonflies and a weird looking dung beetle star in Coke’s “Heist.” I am really liking the turn Coke is taking with their fantasy world based ads. Remember the one with the cute little furry things inside the vending machine kissing the bottle? This is similar. Very fun.

Careerbuilder! Wow, way to step it up. Monster has a good one as well, but I think this one is better. The only criticism I have… is that I can’t listen to this more than once! It gets very annoying. I do love the announcer’s voice. And punching small animals.

Cash 4 Gold normally pisses me off. The commercials are so low-budget and cheesy (”I paid for my cruise trip with money from jewelry I don’t even wear anymore!”) but this one tops most of the other Superbowl ads this year for the simple fact that they’re making fun of themselves. They know it’s a cheesy ad and it makes it great. Plus, who wouldn’t want to sell a gold medallion with a picture of him wearing a gold medallion?

There will be more to come later! I hope you guys enjoyed them as much as I did. If you didn’t see them during the game (and really… who does?) I found a great tab on msn.com that has them.

Also, comment and let me know which ones you guys liked and which ones completely let you down.