Sep 28 2009

Ad of the Week: Honda “The Cog”

Automaker Honda really outdid themselves with this classic ad, which is based on the concept of the Rube Goldberg device. It’s truly impressive, and apparently took many takes to get right. One of my favorites!


Aug 13 2009

Ad of the Week: Jason Statham for Audi

Actor Jason Statham is pretty good looking, and I don’t mind his acting. So even though I was pretty late to the game, only discovering this ad a couple of months ago (as opposed to during the Super Bowl when it first aired), I was excited to see this commercial. Audi cleverly references the style and tone of one of Jason’s action movies, making this an ad you can almost forget is an ad.

Action-packed Audi ad with sexy Jason Statham


Jun 14 2009

GM’s death rattle

rip-gm-1908-2009

General Motors issued this commercial immediately after declaring bankruptcy, and it’s even sadder than the Yaz retraction ad. They’re basically saying, we know we’re a huge disappointment, but what are you gonna do?

GM “reinvention” (aka “we’re fucked”) commercial


Apr 27 2009

The Honda Civic musical road commercial was a failure

I want to like this ad for Honda Civic, which shows a dedicated group of nerds gathering together to cut grooves into a road (much like the Japanese musical roads), thus producing a tune when you drive over it. But I have one major complaint: the song doesn’t work! They’re obviously trying to get the road to play the William Tell Overture, but they failed at getting the notes right for the most part. I seriously doubt they did it wrong on purpose for copyright reasons…that song is way public domain. I suppose it would have been deceptive if the ad people had adjusted the tones so it sounded right, but I almost wish they had, just so I wouldn’t have to listen to this butchered version over and over when I’m trying to watch Daily Show clips online.