Christmas Commercials I Won't Miss '08
For some odd reason, this year's batch of Christmas commercials didn't really bug me too much. Maybe there were fewer of them or maybe they were just less annoying this year. It also helped that some of them had eye candy. The Big Lots ads were pretty lame, but the young chorus guy was pretty cute, for example.
At any rate, now that Christmas is over for the next 364 days, most of the Christmas ads head back into the vault, some of them permanently. Hopefully, these three won't be brought back out next year.
1. Lexus's Pony ad--I've always disliked Lexus's annual attempt to convince America that a $60,000 car is the perfect Christmas gift. But I kind of liked two of their commercials this year, where a little kid is happily describing his/her best gift ever, until we cut to them as an adult, enjoying their new best gift ever. The ads where the boys were raving about a Big Wheel and an Atari were pretty reasonable to me, since both gifts were exactly the type of presents that middle-class kids growing up in the late 70s and early 80s could reasonably expect to get. But the third ad--the pony ad--sticks in my craw.
Unless you live out in the country, a living, breathing pony is not really a good gift for anyone, especially a 6-year-old girl. The ad makes it pretty clear that the girl lives in a suburban neighborhood. And last time I checked, ponies were rarely housebroken. That's an awful lot of nice white carpet in that house for the pony to do its dirty sinful business on.
Really, a pony? I'm no expert on what young girls were into in 1979, but there had to be other awesome, reasonable toys than a pony. How about the Barbie Dream House? Or a bike? Or anything other than a pony, which, I suspect, would stay the greatest gift ever no matter what luxury car was sitting in the driveway Christmas morning.
2. Kay Gingerbread men--Kay ads are always annoying (though at least they're less annoying than the commercials for their corporate cousins Jared, the Galleria of Jewelery), but the gingerbread commercial takes the cookie this year. The gingerbread lady hits her husband to alert him to what she wants for Christmas this year, despite the fact that, well, they're gingerbread people living on a Christmas tree. The gingerbread man runs off, apparently to the gingerbread mall where the gingerbread Kay is located, to buy the gingerbread version of the exact same gift the human husband is giving to his human wife. I guess we're not supposed to think of how a gingerbread man is able to afford anything, let alone diamond earrings, since I don't think you get paid much for being a tree ornament.
3. Target Pageant--Awww, how heartwarming! A children's Christmas pageant! All about--how awesome Target is. I like Target, but I don't want to see a bunch of children in lavish, homemade-looking costumes tell me I need to shop there. Really, what school or organization would put on such a show? Obviously, demanding realism in commercials is a futile effort, but still, this one annoys me to no end.
Now that I've subjected you to three bad commercials (which, thanks to YouTube, will live forever), I'll give you my favorite Christmas commercial of all time. It's a shame they don't run this one anymore.
At any rate, now that Christmas is over for the next 364 days, most of the Christmas ads head back into the vault, some of them permanently. Hopefully, these three won't be brought back out next year.
1. Lexus's Pony ad--I've always disliked Lexus's annual attempt to convince America that a $60,000 car is the perfect Christmas gift. But I kind of liked two of their commercials this year, where a little kid is happily describing his/her best gift ever, until we cut to them as an adult, enjoying their new best gift ever. The ads where the boys were raving about a Big Wheel and an Atari were pretty reasonable to me, since both gifts were exactly the type of presents that middle-class kids growing up in the late 70s and early 80s could reasonably expect to get. But the third ad--the pony ad--sticks in my craw.
Unless you live out in the country, a living, breathing pony is not really a good gift for anyone, especially a 6-year-old girl. The ad makes it pretty clear that the girl lives in a suburban neighborhood. And last time I checked, ponies were rarely housebroken. That's an awful lot of nice white carpet in that house for the pony to do its dirty sinful business on.
Really, a pony? I'm no expert on what young girls were into in 1979, but there had to be other awesome, reasonable toys than a pony. How about the Barbie Dream House? Or a bike? Or anything other than a pony, which, I suspect, would stay the greatest gift ever no matter what luxury car was sitting in the driveway Christmas morning.
2. Kay Gingerbread men--Kay ads are always annoying (though at least they're less annoying than the commercials for their corporate cousins Jared, the Galleria of Jewelery), but the gingerbread commercial takes the cookie this year. The gingerbread lady hits her husband to alert him to what she wants for Christmas this year, despite the fact that, well, they're gingerbread people living on a Christmas tree. The gingerbread man runs off, apparently to the gingerbread mall where the gingerbread Kay is located, to buy the gingerbread version of the exact same gift the human husband is giving to his human wife. I guess we're not supposed to think of how a gingerbread man is able to afford anything, let alone diamond earrings, since I don't think you get paid much for being a tree ornament.
3. Target Pageant--Awww, how heartwarming! A children's Christmas pageant! All about--how awesome Target is. I like Target, but I don't want to see a bunch of children in lavish, homemade-looking costumes tell me I need to shop there. Really, what school or organization would put on such a show? Obviously, demanding realism in commercials is a futile effort, but still, this one annoys me to no end.
Now that I've subjected you to three bad commercials (which, thanks to YouTube, will live forever), I'll give you my favorite Christmas commercial of all time. It's a shame they don't run this one anymore.