Reviews by Cole » commercials

Savvy Consumerism

Cole — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 06:47:12 +0000

Lately, I’ve been paying a lot of attention to commercials and I’ve noticed a lot of them using these type of words:

artistic rendering
representation
depiction
simulation
dramatization

Essentially, all these words mean “fake.” As if, we’re showing you something to get you to buy our product or service but it’s not an actual image or video of how it works. It’s not real evidence. Now, sometimes, I know, it’s not so easy to show how something works because you can’t see it or film it. I get that. Some concepts really benefit from a visual. While I think that these renderings are helpful to explain how something works, it may not explain just not how well something works. And most companies probably rely on that. After all, the more you think about a product, the less you need it.There’s more than one cliche to the end for a reason.

It would be the understatement of the year to say that I’m not as conscientious of a consumer as I could be. Few people are and those who do make the effort are often ostracized–perhaps in jest but we look at them a bit oddly, it seems. Still, how much money would we really spend if we saw how well something actually works in commercials, if we had the firsthand experience in our pockets before opening our wallets? I suppose that is knowledge that comes with experience and, for now, I just take the time to pay attention to the shiny commercials and write off ones that don’t show me what’s really going to help me make the best consumer choices.

You have my attention AT&T

Cole — Tue, 24 May 2011 02:48:46 +0000

Give yourself a round of applause for one hell of a commercial.

I Hate This Commercial

Cole — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 13:19:09 +0000

I could not, would not, in a house.
I would not, could not, with a mouse.
I would not wear it with a fox.
I would not wear it in a box.
I would not wear it here or there.
I would not wear it anywhere.
I would not wear a Snuggie.
I do not like it, Phantom McGee.

Yea, I slaughtered Dr Seuss but at least it was worth slaughtering, not like the freaking Macarena. Eww.

Um, what?!

Cole — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 01:28:06 +0000

A few weeks back, we were in Wal-mart when I overheard part of a commercial on their overhead TVs. My attention was specifically peaked by this line

“Your hands are only as clean as the towel you use to dry them.”

And I turned to Ryan and made some smart ass comment about how I always said that but I didn’t catch what the comemrcial was advertising until the other night when I finally saw it on TV.

And now I can only say..

Um, what?

Kleenex Towels? They already exist, they’re called paper towels and I don’t use a single paper towel every time I need to dry my hands. No, instead, I have a few hand towels that I swap out whenever they’re not so clean (once or twice a week) and toss in the wash. This new “invention” is ridiculously wasteful.

We get the picture

Cole — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 03:41:50 +0000

The new Old Spice commercials boast that women prefer men who use Old Spice over men who used women’s products – or whatever. The actor is ridiculous and uses a stupid voice while riding a horse, sometimes backwards. It seems like the whole thing is intended to be so stupid that we cannot help but think about it because there is no way that a bottle of body wash which turns into an oyster carrying even tickets and then certified diamonds makes sense. I guess, if that is the point, it worked. It’s still obnoxious, though.

You can clean brass with ketchup?

Cole — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 21:53:16 +0000

Sometimes I watch a show on BBC called How Clean is Your House where this pair of adorable, older British ladies travel the country (and sometimes our country) to help people clean their houses. They are big proponents of cleaning with things you would already have in the house (vinegar, dish soap, fruits and vegetables and even ketchup) and there’s a lot of handy hints on the show as well as the website. I know sometimes I don’t like to clean because I think I need a special product but I think that is a part of living in a consumer world. We are trained to think we need a specific product for a specific job or that chemicals equals clean (or cleaner) than some of the alternatives but it’s not necessarily true. There are a lot of home remedies to cleaning, health and probably even eye cream for wrinkles that we probably overlook and, in the end, would cost much less than their commercial counterparts (which may not do as good a job).

A Conspiracy!

Cole — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 21:50:57 +0000

I am pretty easily swayed by commercials, I must admit. I see things and they look so tasty or useful or handy or geeky with their flashy, well designs ads in magazines or on TV and I do want to try it. Now, I don’t usually rush out to try it but I mull it over for a bit. Many things, I eventually think about but some things I really do want to try. So when I saw the commercials for the new Special K fruit crisps, I thought “that sounds like something I’d like” but I have not seen them in any store I have been in and now I cannot help but wonder.. Is this a trick?

Looks just like..

Cole — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 01:06:40 +0000

Have you seen that website which features juxtaposed images of things which look alike? Totally Looks Like is sometimes super amusing. And when I saw the new Proactiv commercials with Julianne Hough I thought she totally looks like a young Jennifer Aniston because I have no idea who Julianne Hough is, where she’s from or why she is qualified to talk about proactiv reviews. Apparently, she is a singer (or so says the internet) but not well known enough that I recognized her.

And Now Back To Your Regularly Scheduled Program

Cole — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:30:03 +0000

Woo! Enough with the book reviews, right? Actually, I hadn’t reviewed a book in a while and I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately so it was a nice change of pace. I probably won’t be finishing any other books any time soon, though, so I’ll return to my slightly less wordy of household objects, shin electronics and cosmetics in short order.

In the mean time, I just thought I’d mention something that I have become aware of here. I know when selling a product or service, a company wants to target certain people. Sometimes these demographics are age, career or gender based and sometimes they are location based. I have noticed that almost all of the car insurance commercials I see here feature a representative who is Mexican American and, frequently with an accent. I’m not sure if this angle is effective. It must be because it’s so prevalent. Maybe I’m just used to the world catering to us white folks but do people really care about the skin colour of someone talking about auto insurance quote during a one minute commercial? I mean, what the hell does that have to do with the quality of the service?

Wrap it up, already

Cole — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 07:58:07 +0000

There’s still some holidays commercials airing. I’m sure the sales are done by now. The year is over (can you believe it?) and it’s time for the next wave of ads. I’ve already seen a handful of resolution themed commercials and I’m sure Valentine’s Day products are right around the corner, too. Not that I’m any more excited to see them but as soon as the clock strikes midnight and it changes to December 26, I find Christmas commercials to be entirely too contrived. I don’t plan on buying your vehicle (no matter how bright the lights or pretty the fonts you use) and I already know you can send me shipping box for free, USPS. (Although, it wouldn’t hurt for me to take you up on that offer). Let it die.