These are two of the funniest commercials I’ve seen in a long time.
Priceless line:
“It ain’t an easy job, but when you bring a herd into town, and you ain’t lost a-one of them, ain’t a feeling like it in the world.”
By Marc Librescu
Category Archives: Uncategorized
EDS Keeps Those Doggies Rollin’
Posted in Commercials, copywriting, Television, Uncategorized
Tagged cat herding, Commercials, commericals, EDS, funny commercials, TV, TV commercials
The Hamilton Collection Redefines Art
This might be the worst ad ever for the worst product ever.
According to this ad for The Hamilton Collection, today’s hottest new artist is someone named Margaret Le Van. That sound you hear is the sound of thousands of dead artists rolling over in their graves. Rembrandt, Picasso, Michelangelo, Monet, Manet, Cezanne…all rolling so fast that scientists fear the force it’s creating may change the orbit of the Earth and send it on a death spiral into the sun.
In the copy, we find this line: bolded, italicized, and underlined to emphasize its importance:
Plus, she features lifelike eyelashes, a trademark of Ms. Le Can’s art!
If only Picasso had thought to include ”lifelike eyelashes” in his painting—he might have become a real artist!
There’s also a line saying this monstrosity is offered “in a hand-numbered limited edition of 95 casting days.” However, it neglects to say how many pieces were created in a casting day. Maybe some factory in China cranked out 11,000 of these babies a day and there are over a million of these eyesores littering the planet. Who knows?
The ad shows a pink ribbon and states that a portion of the proceeds will be donated to help find a cure for breast cancer but it doesn’t specify what portion. It could be 50%. It could be .001%. We don’t know.
If you’d like to help find a cure for breast cancer, you can make a donation directly to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. You’ll know how much is going to charity and you won’t have to demonstrate your bad taste in art to your friends.
By Marc Librescu
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged ad copy, ads, advertising, art, copywriting, Margaret Le Van, print ads, print advertising, The Hamilton Collection
Just For Fun: Alka Seltzer
These are three commercial spots for Alka Seltzer, featuring silent movie comedian Buster Keaton, circa 1950.
Speedy Alka Seltzer was voiced by voice actor Dick Beals, who also did the voice for Gumby when the show first aired in 1957. Beals also provided the voice for Davey in Davey and Goliath, kid voices for The Flintstones and The Jetsons (including Mr. Spacely’s son, Arthur) and many others.
Beals disclosed in his autobiography that a glandular problem caused him to not undergo puberty and was responsible for his boyish look.
By Marc Librescu
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged ad copy, ads, advertising, Buster Keaton, Commercials, Dick Beals, funny commercials, TV commercials
New Blog: Marc’s Music List
I started a new blog called, Marc’s Music List. In the blog, I talk about songs that I like. I try to have a version of the song embedded in the post, so people can get a chance to hear it.
Right now, it’s one song per week, but I may increase the frequency of the posts later on.
Laguna Beach 2009 Calendar
In addition to being a writer, I’m also a photographer. I actually have a degree in photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
I created a calendar of some of my photographs of Laguna Beach to give as a gift to friends and relatives. I liked it so much that I’m offering it for sale to the public. You can click the calendar if you’d like to order a copy.
We’re Not in Kansas Anymore
I won’t argue that Kansas is a nice place to visit, but this ad doesn’t convince me. There’s a photo of a guy standing on a big rock, overlooking miles and miles of flat empty land.
The headline asks:
When’s the last time you saw something like this?
(screen savers don’t count)
The question is based on the assumption that this photo is the most awe-inspiring vista I’ve ever seen—the 8th wonder of the world. But it’s not a great photo, artistically or scenically. Most screen savers look better.
The copy goes on to talk about nine scenic byways (my dictionary defines byway as a minor road or path), state parks (all states have state parks), and the country’s largest remaining tallgrass prairie (what does one do in a tallgrass prairie?).
There’s some copy along the bottom of the ad that says:
authentic as you heard/as beautiful as you imagine/as big as you think/as fun as
Look for yourself. Whatever was supposed to come after “as fun as” is missing. I guess they want to leave it up to your imagination.
Posted in advertising, Media, Uncategorized, Writing
Tagged ad copy, ads, advertising, copywriting, Kansas, print ads, print advertising
Tito’s Handwritten Ad
This ad for Tito’s Handmade Vodka is a collage. The elements include a headline proclaiming that the product is real, a product photo, a photo of a man (presumably it’s Tito), and a handwritten message on some graph paper.
The big problem, of course, is the handwritten message. It’s absolute hubris for the company to believe that readers are going to devote the time and effort required to read a long, barely legible handwritten message. Maybe Tito’s mom is so enamored with the company that she’ll stop and read the message. The rest of us will simply turn the page.
There’s another issue. The headline boasts: NO BIG MARKETING BUDGET. If you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I’d like to sell you. It costs a small fortune to hire an advertising agency to create an ad and run it just once in a national magazine. I don’t know how many magazines this company has placed ads in or for how long, but it isn’t cheap. This fact is somewhat at odds with the NO PRETENSE claim.
Posted in advertising, Media, Uncategorized, Writing
Tagged ad copy, ads, advertising, copywriting, print ads, print avertising, Tito's Handcrafted Vodka
Sierra Club’s Actor Doesn’t Know Jack About Science
Here’s a surprise…a Hollywood actor boldly sticking his neck out to take a stand against global warming. Never mind that most actors only have a high school education; they are the great thinkers and scientists of today who have made strides in the environmental sciences. Why, just look at the famed scientist and philosopher, Leonardo DiCaprio.
David Strathairn is one of the more educated actors. He actually has a degree from Williams College. He went on to further his studies at clown college (true), which no doubt prepared him for his current role as an environmental spokesman.
This ad for Sierra Club features the actor and his two sons, Tay and Ebbe, looking self-rightous (Tay looks like he may have just smoked some whacky weed—I’m just saying). David proclaims in the headline:
My sons and I are often apart these days, but together we are taking on global warming.
The only problem is that the ad doesn’t actually say how David, Tay, and Ebbe are taking on global warming. Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe they’re taking on global warming by stating they’re taking on global warming. If that’s the case, I’m taking on desalinization of saltwater to provide a plentiful supply of water to the world. In my spare time, I’m taking on curing cancer.
The copy goes on to tout some scheme that says we can cut carbon emissions by 80% if we reduce them by 2% each year between now and 2050. This solution is so simple, I’m kicking myself for not thinking of it first.
In the 1970s, they tried to scare us with global cooling. In the 1980s, they told us that we’d all be dead from AIDS. Today, it’s global warming. In 20 years from now, we’ll have moved onto the next bogeyman, perhaps the Martian Menace.
We’ve never let facts get in the way of a good scare in the past, so why start now?
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged ad copy, ads, advertising, copywriting, David Stathairn, print ads, print advertising, Sierra Club
