Havasimy

I'm a fan of commercials. The creative ones, I've always thought of as short movies. When technologies, like tivo, eventually mark the end of commercials as we know it, I will be a little sad. They will be replaced by more embedded advertising like extreme product placement or ads on a small area of the screen like on soccer broadcast. They will be more obnoxious and harder to ignore and less creative. I'll also miss the race to hit the bathroom and getting food and drink in that couple minutes of commercials. Over all the contributions to pop culture (which I am a avid follower of) by commercials have more than made up for their negatives. The product never mattered. Nike and Coors Light (and other light beers) have had some of the most creative commercials, even though they are products I actively avoid. I like the way that the formula of DOG + BEER = HOT WOMEN is true one way in commercials and another way in real life. I still laugh at the Easy Mac commercial where the teacher gives the class the one question test: "1 + 1 = ?" and the one kid yells "YES!". I even admire the guy who figured out that you can make a STD medicine commercial watchable by having a attractive woman talking about her herpes over shots of her swimming and having fun. I've owned Spuds Mackenzie and "Where's the beef?" t-shirts and I've had my picture taken with Alex from Stroh's.

On that note, I'd just like to say that I HATE the new McDonald's ad campaign "I'm Lovin' It". I hate the way the phrase is used in the commercial. I hate the song. I hate the fact that it's used in conjunction with the McDonald's Monopoly contest which is my favorite contest that I'll never win unless I find a friend in the company that rigs it for me I simply hate "I'm Lovin' It". I can't explain it, but it's strikes a nerve. If I was in whatever focus group they showed it too before they started airing it, not only would it not have aired, but the ad company would have lost the account and the ad exec would now be working for McDonald's at a hourly wage.