...And a set of steak knives... FREE!
Since before I can remember, I've had this crazy love-hate relationship with advertisements.
When I was little, local tv stations didn't really broadcast in the morning, but (so I'm told) on a Monday morning they would run all the current ads one after the other, first English, then the Afrikaans ones. My mom would stick me on the bed and use this time to get her washing done because I, apparently, would not move till the ads were over. When I started walking, I would run into the room at the start of the ad breaks and run out when the show began again (I did this for the financial news too, so go figure). Ever since I've had this preoccupation with adverts.
A good ad will have me yammering on to all and sundry ("did you see that ad?! and the... when they... with the...!!! Damn, that's a good ad!"), a bad one will compel me to turn off the tv/radio till the ad is over or else I fixate on its annoyingness like a particularly catchy tune. (See 'Current Music'. Damn you Aunty Jen.)
Where am I going with this? Well some of you may have seen the advert for a "tv series" called Scarlet. It features some random kick-ass girl, an actress it seems, who according to the voice-over has some mysterious secret about her that some dude is determined to uncover. Hmm, a little formulaic perhaps. And there's something kinda hinky about the ad which I can't quite put my finger on immediately (more on that later). But, they would have you know, this is "from the director of Smallville and Supernatural". Ok that's more interesting. But there's no time, just a date and no channel. That's weird right? So I look it up online.
It's a fake.
The ad which appears to be almost the same internationally (different release dates though), is a cleverly disguised hook for a series of tv's ('tv series', geddit? *ba-dump, tish*) by LG, called... yup, Scarlet.
For me the hinkyness came in because the voice over is still in that uber-American, 'Six foot tall man who has been smoking since childhood' voice (Thankyou Hitchhiker's Guide trailer). In S.A. they take the same footage as the original American ads but usually put a South African voice to it (not the actor's speech, just the channel specific v.o. obviously.) But they don't always for product ads. So to me it doesn't feel like a program ad it feels a product being sold. And that just doesn't ad(d) up. (oh god, the pun, it burnses!)
Does the ad work? Maybe. It got my attention, but will it leave a lasting impression about the product? Probably not. And when I say to my mom, "you know that ad, for that tv series Scarlet", she immediately goes "nope." Oh, well. Better luck next time.
When I was little, local tv stations didn't really broadcast in the morning, but (so I'm told) on a Monday morning they would run all the current ads one after the other, first English, then the Afrikaans ones. My mom would stick me on the bed and use this time to get her washing done because I, apparently, would not move till the ads were over. When I started walking, I would run into the room at the start of the ad breaks and run out when the show began again (I did this for the financial news too, so go figure). Ever since I've had this preoccupation with adverts.
A good ad will have me yammering on to all and sundry ("did you see that ad?! and the... when they... with the...!!! Damn, that's a good ad!"), a bad one will compel me to turn off the tv/radio till the ad is over or else I fixate on its annoyingness like a particularly catchy tune. (See 'Current Music'. Damn you Aunty Jen.)
Where am I going with this? Well some of you may have seen the advert for a "tv series" called Scarlet. It features some random kick-ass girl, an actress it seems, who according to the voice-over has some mysterious secret about her that some dude is determined to uncover. Hmm, a little formulaic perhaps. And there's something kinda hinky about the ad which I can't quite put my finger on immediately (more on that later). But, they would have you know, this is "from the director of Smallville and Supernatural". Ok that's more interesting. But there's no time, just a date and no channel. That's weird right? So I look it up online.
It's a fake.
The ad which appears to be almost the same internationally (different release dates though), is a cleverly disguised hook for a series of tv's ('tv series', geddit? *ba-dump, tish*) by LG, called... yup, Scarlet.
For me the hinkyness came in because the voice over is still in that uber-American, 'Six foot tall man who has been smoking since childhood' voice (Thankyou Hitchhiker's Guide trailer). In S.A. they take the same footage as the original American ads but usually put a South African voice to it (not the actor's speech, just the channel specific v.o. obviously.) But they don't always for product ads. So to me it doesn't feel like a program ad it feels a product being sold. And that just doesn't ad(d) up. (oh god, the pun, it burnses!)
Does the ad work? Maybe. It got my attention, but will it leave a lasting impression about the product? Probably not. And when I say to my mom, "you know that ad, for that tv series Scarlet", she immediately goes "nope." Oh, well. Better luck next time.