Archive for the ‘animals’ category
January 12, 2016
In another Farmers Insurance commercial, we are shown the revenge of the “proud bird with the golden tail,” the long-suffering and oft disrespected turkey. A “Meaty’s Butcher Shop” truck manned by a single hapless guy is making its way down the road when a turkey appears in its path, causing the driver to veer off the road and into a tree. The middle-aged gent then regards his passenger seat, where he be holds…a turkey! The driver screams at the turkey, who gobbles loudly at him…
…payback, they say, is hell. We then cut to an exterior shot of the disabled truck, with a mob of turkeys descending on it. There is strength in numbers, and the delivery truck rocks from side to side as the turkeys administer their own brand of justice to one of their oppressors. It’s reminiscent of a scene in the first Jurassic Park movie where a throng of diminutive dinosaurs overwhelm and dispense with an especially obnoxious character in his vehicle.
We then cut to a scene with the unflappable J.K. Simmons escorting a client through their extensive Hall of Claims, where we gaze with them upon a much-mangled apron, last worn by the ill-fated delivery driver. Farmers Insurance has seen just about everything, we are reminded, so they can insure against anything, including “Turkey Jerks…”
Categories: animals, anthropomorphic, feathered friends, furry, furry commercials, television
Tags: animals of Farmers Insurance, turkey jerks
Comments: 6 Comments
January 3, 2016
Everyone knows that there are times when guys just need to be around the company of other guys so that they don’t have to worry about pleasing the does all of the time. Then instead of talking about “relationships” and “feelings,” we can just hang out, overeat, watch “guy” movies, and I dunno, maybe play some table tennis…
…and so it is that a recent Farmers Insurance commercial takes us to a genuine stag pool party, namely one attended by stags. They’re having a wild time of it, too, with loud music and commotion heard while the pool lights are off. When the floodlights come on, however, all of the stags are frozen in place, the old “deer in the headlights” thing. The lights off/lights on sequence repeats several times, but each time the lights come on, there are subtle changes in the scenario, primary among which is that there are more and more stags actually in the pool!
The Farmers Insurance spokesman (J.K. Simmons) explains in their Hall of Claims that since they’ve seen about everything, they can insure just about anything…including, apparently, an out-of-bounds party for some not-so-timid woodlands creatures. Party on, boys!
Categories: absurdities, animals, anthropomorphic, furry, furry commercials, television
Tags: Farmers Insurance, stag pool party
Comments: 3 Comments
December 24, 2015
It’s Michael Jackson’s Thriller meets the British show Mongrels in a dark and bizarre commercial spot for Bosch’s Icon wiper blades sponsored by the Humane Society called, “Don’t Be A Roadkill Car.”
A quintet of road-slaughtered animals brings home the message that better wiper blades by facilitating your vision might have prevented their gruesome demise. Meet Frank the Squirrel, who peels his flattened and protesting self off the road surface to demonstrate a still impressive set of vocal chords. He is joined by Buck the Deer, Francesca Fox, Streetz the Skunk, and a tire-marked rabbit. I found Francesca especially compelling in how she could extend up her severed head in her own paws. They’ve all clearly seen much better days, but are doing their best undead service for Bosch blades and animal preservation. It’s a gutsy commercial, literally and figuratively…
The commercial/public service announcement pushes the envelope, and is likely to shock if not revolt some viewers; their performance and their singing will, however, likely stick in your head! As a year-round fan of Halloween and horror, these singing furry zombies with a message furnished me with a perfect antidote for the Xmas merchandising we’ve been relentlessly exposed to since October…I’d buy their album!
Categories: animal spokepersons, animals, anthropomorphic, bizarre, furry, furry commercials, furry horror, strange, television
Tags: Bosch roadkill
Comments: 2 Comments
October 18, 2015
It’s every motorist’s worst nightmare…an after-dark close encounter with a deer! As the driver successfully brakes to a full halt just short of a front end impact and rejoices in his luck at avoiding this close call, the buck cops an attitude, and lowers his impressive rack to deliberately scratch up the dude’s bumper. Yes, Bambi Bumps Bumper might be a subtitle…
…Uh oh! Better get Maaco (auto body repair, that is)! The out-takes on this commercial, viewable on Utube and elsewhere, are hilarious. In one, you can see the head of the human posed in front of the car bumper to manipulate the phony deer head and antlers that you see in the close-ups…
Categories: animals, furry, furry commercials, television
Tags: Maaco deer
Comments: 6 Comments
October 12, 2015
The Jersey Devil is perhaps one of the strangest cryptic creatures commonly talked about, and one with a rich backstory. Said to be the unwanted and accursed child of a witch who lived in the 1700’s, Mother Leeds, the creature is described as having hooves, a goat’s or horse’s head, bat wings, and a forked tail. A Little Egg Harbor Township resident, Dave Black, recently snapped a picture of an unidentified life form while driving on Route 9 in Galloway, New Jersey.
Originally the observer thought that he was seeing a llama until the creature “spread out leathery wings and flew over the golf course.” The observer took a picture, and describes what he saw as being a “large, flying mammal about the size of a deer.” The photo appears to show something with dark brown fur, wings on its back, and cloven feet. A video taken by a woman named Emily at about the same time also reportedly shows a reddish animal with a long neck and horns…delightful fare for this Halloween season!
Categories: animals, anomalies, cryptozoology, furry, unexplained, unidentified
Tags: the Jersey Devil
Comments: 2 Comments
September 27, 2015
In rural parts of Pennsylvania, hitting a deer on the road is a very real possibility at this time of year. They’re in rut, you see, and the herds are stirred up as the big guys try to get lucky. Poor Charlie and his wife have just had such an encounter, and they need to find a good body shop fast! We are shown their car ramped up on the rear of the deer-driven vehicle, an antlered buck behind the wheel.
“”You just came out of nowhere!,” contests the woman driving to the buck. The deer makes agitated noises and flails around. “Calm down!,” urges the woman. “No one shot your mother,” she presents in a Bambi reference. The deer vocalizes and thrashes around some more, apparently saying something uncomplimentary about the human driver and raising the ire of her husband, who is ready to take on the buck and is becoming verbally abusive himself.
Fortunately, a Yelp representative is there to recommend a five star body shop, and it’s suggested that the deer and humans all go in there together. They are then shown standing in front of said establishment, although the buck remains mouthy and the human male combative. – – Why can’t we all just get along?!
Categories: absurdities, animals, anthropomorphic, furry, furry commercials, television
Tags: deer car accidents, driving deer, Yelp "Deer in Headlights"
Comments: 4 Comments
September 20, 2015
It’s so hard to find a tasty and healthy snack on the African savanna! Two lionesses in a Fiber One commercial would kill for something sweet, and are considering the available offerings. – – Flamingos? – – Nah, they’d have to eat about thirty of them. One offers to split a hippopotamus with the other; too fat, also unacceptable. The hippo appears to harrumph in surprise or indignation.
Fortunately, we humans don’t have to face such quandaries, with Fiber One providing sweet and healthy snacks at only 90 calories. You don’t have to hunt and kill ’em, either…
Categories: animals, anthropomorphic, furry, furry commercials, television
Tags: Fiber One, illnesses
Comments: 1 Comment
September 15, 2015
Poor Elliot! Although he’s in harness at work, it’s his co-worker Ned who gets noticed by their female boss, and called “a real workhorse.” When Elliot spins around, neighs, and shakes his magnificent mane, his unappreciative boss only orders him back to work. Typical office favoritism and partiality; sounds like this boss is a real nag!
It looks like Starbucks in this commercial is telling us that even an actual workhorse is no match for someone with a double shot coffee or such down the hatch. Living on excessively high doses of caffeine, however, is no horse laugh, even if they do work you like one…been there, done that!
Categories: animal presence, animals, anthropomorphic, Brilliant but twisted, furry, furry commercials, television
Tags: Starbucks workhorse, workhorse
Comments: 3 Comments
August 24, 2015
“Aww, doesn’t the baby look sweet…and tender?”
So you might think that the wolf was thinking in an edgy current public service health commercial about the dangers of whooping cough exposure for infants. In the Big Bad Cough spot, a couple is taking their infant child to visit a grandmother, who transforms from human to lupine right before our eyes! This is supposed to represent the hidden danger posed by whooping cough, carried by the unwary grandmother. Pertussis is a spreadable disease especially dangerous to young children, and the commercial draws upon the classic Red Riding Hood tale.
Now wolves tend to generally get a bad press, representing nothing positive. The Red Riding Hood story has been reworked and re-told a variety of ways, but I’ve always felt somewhat sympathetic towards wolves, and the notion of a wolf in bed wearing a grandmother’s clothing is not without its comic elements, at least in my twisted mind. Perhaps the wolf rather enjoyed the cross-dressing…at any rate, he deserved better than being axed to death by a woodman! In one revisionist kiddie literature version, the story is re-told from the wolf’s perspective…now that’s entertainment!
Categories: animals, furry, furry commercials, television
Tags: Big Bad Cough, whooping cough wolf, wolves
Comments: 3 Comments
August 6, 2015
Although a smaller sheep, Shaun the Sheep has leadership written all over him, and would probably be a better presidential candidate than most of the Republican field. A break-out character from the third Wallace & Gromit short, ‘A Close Shave,’ Shaun is a resident of the Mossy Bottom Farm who needs some time off from the farm, eventually winding up with the flock in the Big City (London). The farmer who pursues them winds up hospitalized with amnesia, and it falls to Shaun to free the farmer, return home, and restore the normal order of things.
Remarkably, this can be done without dialogue save for the odd sound effect and musical score. Visual humor is key, with references made to The Shawshank Redemption, The Silence of the Lambs, and even The Wolverine. We also learn that sheep, long under-rated creatures, can sing harmony.
Other films from Aardman Animations include Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run. The resourceful Shaun also has his own television show in the United Kingdom…
Categories: animals, anthropomorphic, furry, movies
Tags: animation, Shaun the Sheep
Comments: 5 Comments
In another Farmers Insurance commercial, we are shown the revenge of the “proud bird with the golden tail,” the long-suffering and oft disrespected turkey. A “Meaty’s Butcher Shop” truck manned by a single hapless guy is making its way down the road when a turkey appears in its path, causing the driver to veer off the road and into a tree. The middle-aged gent then regards his passenger seat, where he be holds…a turkey! The driver screams at the turkey, who gobbles loudly at him…
FOXSYLVANIA 
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