Plagiarism corner #2: Sacla vs. Lesse Gjertsen
Exhibit A, m’lud: the latest spot from Italian foodmeisters, Sacla..
Exhibit B, m’lud: that video from Norwegian star of YouTube, Lasse Gjertsen…
Of course, you can’t blame the makers for cashing in on 4.5 million hits…can you?
Where in the world…
PC World trail McDonalds only narrowly in the race to have the most annoying yet compulsive jingle tune ever – just as you simply HAVE to whistle the ‘I’m loving it’ answering phrase whenever the golden arches appear (they long since stopped actually playing that bit of the tune, smug in the knowledge that the world was already theirs), the ‘where in the world – PC WORLD’ jingle is as instinctive as it is infuriating.
OK OK this isn’t really much of an analysis of their ads, more just an excuse to vent – I freely admit I’ve had nothing but terrible experiences shopping in PC World, aggravated no end when due to a break-in and subsequent insurance payout, I was forced to shop with the Dixons Group to replace two beloved iBooks. I spent the next 6 months in and out of the local PC World’s ‘help centre’ as they struggled to explain why the knackered old iBook they’d kicked around the stockroom wasn’t working properly but always insisting they were under no obligation to refund me my money. (In the end they did give me a refund – in vouchers of course, further restricting me to their horrible stores – but the massive Currys in the Bullring were considerably better and sorted me out with a then-brand-new MacBook).
But I digest – their ads. I particularly like (I mean hate, of course) the one that’s been on recently where two of their smarmy, smug sales assistants (great acting lads, they really are that repulsive) bang on about how the shiny laptop they’re putting on display is so good, they’re going to reserve one each for themselves in the stockroom. So THAT’S why they never have the on-offer computers when you visit the store – their bloody staff have nicked them all! Save yourself a lot of time and bother and shop somewhere that doesn’t sell you the privilege of setting your own computer up for £49.99.
Kelloggs Nutrigrain in trousers-down non-shocker
Witness one of those minor television drama moments being played out in front of your eyes: I’m now quite convinced (but need to see the ad again in a real-life TV ad break) that Kelloggs have seen sense and edited their latest Nutrigrain campaign.
Let me explain: the basic premise of the ad sees a doctor examining a patient, somewhat incompetently, only to conclude that the only cure for his ills is to eat something cakey. Like a Nutrigrain bar (are they cakey? Biscuity? I’ve never been sure about them). We laugh along at the realisation that – OH-HO NO!! – he’s actually a BAKER, not a doctor at all. Can you imagine such a world!
Not much has changed in the clipped version, save for one standout line which got my eyebrows well and truly raised every time it came on: at one point, whilst pressing a stethoscope against the patient’s cheek, the doctor quite matter-of-factly asks him to drop his trousers.
That’s right – drop his trousers. In that one moment the gag went from innocent mistaken-identity frippery to dark, twisted, Shipman-esque horror story – “he gave me a cake bar then told me to take off my clothes…” What’s really scary is that the ad seemed to run for a few weeks before anything changed. I haven’t had time to Google-fu the story in detail but no doubt it’s down to pressure from the Daily Mail or News of the World.
Peugeot 207 – now with faulty satnav
Probably an easy target this (I’ve owned two Peugeot cars, both 106s, one great and one terrible), but what exactly is the deal with this:
OK, OK, I get the gag – but all I really hear when I see this advert is ‘the new Peugeot 207, complete with angry satnav that wants you to be late’. If I buy a car with satnav (I’ve never had the pleasure), surely I want it to take me to where I’m going? If I want driving pleasure, I’ll open up the probably-very-complicated menu system and type in ‘big windy road’ – it’s bound to find me somewhere. Probably spaghetti junction knowing my luck.
No, for me this is one of those ads that is trying a bit too hard to be clever, but ends up giving the exact opposite impression. Perhaps they should follow Honda’s lead and just have a very deep voiceover saying how great Peugeots are. Aren’t they?
Plagiarism corner #1: Hillarys Blinds vs. iPod Nano
Special mention for the current Hillarys Blinds ads running on UK TV screens right now (sorry, for once they don’t have a link to watch online), which feature a pile of coasters seen from above, each with a pretty picture of said blinds in one of those idyllic, perfectly-decorated houses we all live in these days. As the music plays disembodied hands start removing coasters from the top of the pile, to reveal another blind in another lovely environment, each more utopian than the last.
Except, hang on, haven’t we seen the exact same hand-based idea already used somewhere before? Where else but Apple, that bastion of hit-and-miss hyper-simplistic ads (there’s bound to be a future post on these all to themselves in the near future), with their spots for the newly rejuvenated iPod nano, complete with extra video-y bits. Check them out on Apple’s official site and see for yourself.
Honda vs. Lurpak – baritone wars
What better way to get things going than by examining one of the most basic, fundamental tools in the ad-person’s toolkit: the deep voice. Consider two examples: the lovely new Honda ads (watch here, if you like mildly amusing computer-crippling flash animations) telling you how green and wonderful their cars are (or will be), and those bleedin’ Lurpak ads (available here – if you like being patronised by Jack Nicholson).
I actually really like the Honda ad, for a number of reasons: it has bonkers speeded-up technoish music that makes you feel somehow cool in that ‘oh yes, isn’t that clever’ kind of way; it is, like it or not, quite a fun idea for an advert very much from the ‘they didn’t do that for real, did they?’ school that’s so popular at the moment (see Sony et al); but mostly because, at the end of the day, what it’s actually advertising might just be the start of a sllooowww, long overdue revolution in cars: making them run on hydrogen (it’s so simple!).
In addition to all this fun – and I am now absolutely convinced that working for Honda MUST be fun, spending all day building really big jigsaws and solving the world’s ills, with even coffee-breaks providing an opportunity for uber-geekness – Honda’s latest series of ads still, occasionally, employs the deep voice. In their case, it’s the deep voice of one Garrison Keillor, who, I imagine unlike most other voiceover artists, seems to have, like, a career and everything. He even does a radio show which is broadcast right here in the UK on BBC 7, apparently. A bit of me wishes he was my dad (I feel the same way about Patrick Stewart. Is it a deep voice thing?).
So there you go, I quite like those ones. Pity poor Lurpak, then, who could be forgiven for assuming that a similar heady brew of quick-fire visuals shot in what they thought was a new and exciting way married with another really deep voice would be ad gold – instant likeability and, unlike Honda who are convincing you to part with thousands of your hard-earned wodge, people might actually buy more Lurpak as a result.
Sadly, none of these things happened. Instead I have to endure force-induced motion sickness as their super-macro camera tracks knives slicing beetroot LIKE IT’S FLESH; hot, gooey white bread (isn’t it supposed to be bad for you or something?) being mucked about as though the makers of Saw had been commissioned to remake the Marks & Spencer ads; and above all, a deep-goddamn-voice that really, really irritates. According to one forum thread, it might be Rutger Hauer. God help me.
adlands 