The new ad for the Reebok EasyTone shoes or whatever is totally gross. It reminds me of the Cottonelle butt institute ad. I guess the point is that if you get these magical shoes, your ass while be so irresistable that people will stare at it all the time, but it just comes off as creepy and porny.
Portions of the new commercial for Levi’s, which is patriotically titled “Go Forth America,” seem to be obviously ripping off Feist’s music video for “I Feel It All.” The sparklers and fireworks, the dark water, the youthful cavorting, even the girl’s black and white striped shirt are clear matches.
I spotted the ridiculous product called Tingotang on TV’s Dragons’ Den, on which the company tried and failed to obtain funding for their misguided efforts. Basically, it’s jewelry you’re supposed to wear to signal that you’re single when at a bar or such. The product was dumb and nobody would ever buy it, but their ad is even worse.
I have been confused about these Marshall’s commercials for a while. They set up these bizarre scenarios in which fashion designers don’t seem to understand the concept of return policies, customer service, or basic retail practices. For instance, in the ad below, their fancy European designer, Bjorn, writes the number 100 on an order slip, and the clothing supplier he’s buying from assumes he wrote 700. First of all, I doubt they’d finish their transaction without going over the total cost, but even if they did, once the 700 shirts showed up on his doorstep, you’d think Bjorn would simply call up the supplier and be like, “I only ordered 100 shirts. I’m not paying for 700.” End of story. A few bucks for return shipping might be lost, but it’s not the end of the world.
It may pay to be shoppertunistic, but it clearly doesn’t pay to be a pushover in the retail business.
Now, I know fashion is a world that’s all about expensive marketing campaigns that make little to no sense, but this is just going too far. Prada made a multi-part animated film about their latest line, and it’s basically a painfully long acid trip brought to life. I really don’t know what to make of it. See the madness for yourself…I’m not sure if this is part 1 or the whole deal because it seems like it was a contest of some kind, but this is probably all you’ll be able to stomach anyway.