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Wednesday, May 13, 2009

bellyaching.


Great ad.

5 comments:

Calgary Rants said...

Interesting! You have to love the actor they hired, not your typical "environmentalist". This erods the sterotype of the tree hugging granola and lets the viewer know its ok to be thining about the environment. They also set the commercial in a "down-home" american apple pie setting. ( I also love the camera shot at 22Seconds...they focus on the MONEY as he talks about the economy.)

It is a powerful commercial, with every detail and shot thought trough. Great post Dave.

Anonymous said...

This ad is priceless and well done. You keep waiting for the joke part of it, kind of like a Saturday Night Live commercial, and then you realize that the joke is that they are trying to be serious. So then you laugh.

Good times indeed. I like it.

Anonymous said...

Focusing on the money as he talks about the economy? Wow, sheer genius. Hire a gumpy old guy to talk about clean energy? Wow, sheer genius. Come on guys. This is a pretty run of the mill ad, employing pretty standard techniques. It may even be a little ham-fisted. Anon 10:58 may have unwittingly identifed a bit of a problem. When I first saw this I too didn't take it seriously because the guy's a bit of a caricature or cartoon. There's a danger of trying too hard and exposing your technique, making your technique be what people take away.
There a good chance that a more effective ad, one that genuinely stretched the boundaries of who can say what about clean energy, wouldn't have resulted in everyone saying, "ah, I see what they're trying to do...what a clever ad."
I'm not saying it's bad. It's probalby decently effective, but it hardly deserves to be pulled out and trumpeted as a great ad.

Mona said...

Are you kidding? I love this ad. Environmental groups have notoriously bad campaigns that only appeal to their base. This is a great use of an old grumpy farmer who wants more! YEAH! Go farmer dude. Also nice placement of the American flag at the end there. Subtle, but noticeable. Thumbs up.




(I hate anonymous posters. Put a name by your beliefs.)

Anonymous said...

Having a non-typical spokesperson is a good idea (not even close to original, but still good). And well-worn gimmicks like carefully timed shots of money or a glimpse of a flag, or a double entendre "wake-up" sign are all fine. But I agree that something that didn't look like the intro to a SNL skit would have been even better. Everyone notices the gimmicks, sees the use of the crusty old farmer with a backwoods accent as the stunt, which in the end may reduce its effectiveness. I also think they went one notch too far.