Archive for the ‘Brilliant but twisted’ category

The Lactaid Cow in, “Annoying Milk”

June 1, 2016


Anthropomorphic cows  so seldom appear in commercials that I’m glad to see one make an appearance, especially when they are a bit crazed.  In a recent Lactaid commercial, we are treated to an all too brief appearance from the Lactaid Cow’s deviant sister, Lactose Cow.

Now the Lactaid Cow is a beautiful blue and white creature, and as sweet as pie; she’s lovely, and I have nothing against her.    Her “annoying milk” alter ego, as pictured above, is black and white and quite hyper, full of energy and questions that she fires off in rapid fashion at her human company.  These are questions such as, “Why do people have eyebrows?  And why do they put milk on their cereal?  Are you reading about why people put milk on their cereal right now? And why does your stomach go, ‘rumbly, rumbly, rumbly?’”  Unfortunately at that moment, this marvelous creature is lassoed and hauled off by the Lactaid Cow, who takes her place and won’t give the lactose-intolerant anything but serenity and dietary support; she won’t “mess with you.”  

Well and good, but where others see annoyance, I see opportunity.  This so-called annoying milk cow would fit in with Warner Bros. creations, and could make a wonderfully demented childrens’ show host, kind of like Pee-Wee Herman in cowhide.  She just needs the proper vehicle to propel her to stardom, and they don’t need to change a thing about her!  Heck, give her a sitcom, called something like “My Neighbor the Cow” or “The Cow that Came To Dinner”( wait, scratch that second one)!  Anyways, I’d pull up a chair to watch this bovine comedian.  I hope we haven’t seen the last of her, ’cause this cow’s no milk dud…the Lactaid Cow may have your back, but her twisted sister’s got my funnybone…

Progressive’s Flo Meets the Kool-Aid Man…

May 29, 2016

I, for one, have always found the Kool-Aid Man vaguely disturbing. I mean, if you’re not even safe in your own home or at a gathering from having your walls battered down by an enormous pitcher of red fruit drink who accompanies his wanton mayhem with a cry of “Oh, yeah,” where are you safe?  He even stands there inexplicably grinning afterward, as if massive property damage was somehow amusing.  Let others worry about Hillary Clinton’s e-mails, I’m far more concerned about home invasions by product icons…

I suppose, however, that an enormous anthropomorphic pitcher of fruit drink fits right in with the surreal universe inhabited by Progressive Insurance’s Flo.  The Kool-Aid Man is portrayed, after all, as a next-door neighbor type who just happens to enter through walls rather than doorways.  Ever the perky Pollyanna, Flo tries to put a positive spin on things by pointing out to her neighbor how fortunate she is to have tied her homeowners and other insurance together through Progressive so as to maximize savings.  Flo walks among us, but is not really one of us. While also disturbing, she at least does not walk through walls.  In his favor, perhaps, is the fact that the Kool-Aid Man has a far more limited vocabulary, and never blathers about insurance, which is never my favorite topic of conversation.  Now product icons seldom fight among themselves; they presumably belong to the same union.  In a fight, however, Flo might possibly hold the Kool-Aid guy at bay with her “set your own price” gun.  With her omnipresent white garb, I suspect that Flo is actually some kind of annoying deity.

Still, unanswered questions remain.  Why does the Kool-Aid Man sport only four fingers on each hand?  Is he some kind of yet unidentifiable life form, or might there be an alien connection?  Did the Reptilians breed the Kool-Aid Man just to torment us, or is he some kind of trans-dimensional being?  Might Flo actually be the alien overlord, and the Kool-Aid guy her unspeakable experiment?  There are many possibilities here, none of them good.  I leave it to far greater minds than mine to ponder such things.  I am, after all, but a secret government experiment on a woodland creature gone terribly awry.

Perhaps the Mountain Monsters guys could be put on the trail of this one.  They might find him easier to catch than Bigfoot…

 

The Slack.com Animal “Team” Does Wonderful Things…

April 11, 2016


They’re quite diverse, yet they work as an office team…the CGI animals presented in a commercial for the messenger app “Slack,” that is.  Headed by a lion boss called “Geoff” who observes a prawn employee (Alan) struggling with an umbrella, the idea of a flying umbrella is born, developed, and implemented by the surreal office team which includes a beaver, goat, rabbit, owl, and sloth.  They all act in accordance with their respective species, with the sloth, for example, moving in slow motion.  The commercial spot is surreal yet captivating, and it works as does the product.

Remarkably, a “bloopers reel” is also available for the commercial, showing such deleted scenes as the prawn falling from his chair, the goat beating her keyboard to pieces with their hooves, and the prawn doing a beatbox routine following his presentation.   This is strange but wonderful stuff…

Starbucks “Workhorse” Commercial…

September 15, 2015

 

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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!

Geico Water Hazard Monster!

September 3, 2015

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Golf tends not to be especially thrilling as a spectator sport, but it could be enlivened considerably by making the water hazards truly hazardous, say by putting a Kraken into the water!  Golfer Bill in a recent Geico commercial is having a truly bad round when an enormous tentacle whips out of the water and ensnares him, the golfer flailing helplessly against its iron grip.

The sportscasters in the face of this spectacle are unflappable, commenting in whispered tones about how the golfer’s five iron may not be enough club to handle this situation; he’s gonna lose a stroke on this one!  More of the Kraken then becomes  visible for inspection, and it is truly a beast of Lovecraftian proportions; now this is a sporting event!  Still nonplussed, the sportscasters continue to comment in whispered tones; it’s what they do

I’d pull up a chair and pay to see golf matches like this!  With quicksand, scorpions, and rattlesnakes, perhaps we could also lend new meaning to tired old golf course “sand traps.”- – Now that’s entertainment!

The Geico Chicken…”It’s What You Do…”

April 15, 2015

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Dang, this chicken leads a more adventurous life than I do!  A  free-range chicken is shown riding the rails, traveling shotgun with a trucker, enjoying a campfire gathering, and sitting at a diner counter while observing egg platters being served…that’s gotta be awkward! – – Ahh, the lure of the open road, to be footloose and fancy free!  All the while, said chicken manages to send pictures of her exploits to a worn-looking farm couple, her former owners…

…it’s what she does…after all, she’s a free-range chicken, doing what she’s called to do!  The sweeping melody of “Ride Away” by Roy Orbison accompanies the Geico commercial, and I’d love to log a few miles with this bird! 

Camels: “It’s What You Do…”

December 31, 2014

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The original Geico commercial with Caleb the Camel at the office is now kind of a classic.  Success, unfortunately, tends to breed imitation, and so it comes as no surprise in this new commercial to see humans at the zoo tormenting camels on display with “Guess what day it is” banter.  As anyone who has heard the many imitators can vouch, it gets old pretty quickly…

We are then privy to a conversation held between two camels at the zoo who are being badgered by camel wanna-bees, complete with dialogue from the original commercial.  Understandably, they are weary of it.  “It’s not even Wednesday!,” complains one camel to his companion.  “Let it go, Phil,”  advises the other.  The voice of the announcer then cuts in; “When you’re a camel, this is what you put up with all the time…it’s what you do…”

Camels…more sinned against than sinning.  Joe Camel, purveyor of tobacco products in an earlier time, never knew these burdens…and a happy and prosperous New Year to all of our readers!

 

 

 

“I Heard Something in the Attic” d-Con Commercial

December 25, 2014

 

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In another commercial for d-Con pest control, a couple goes to investigate a noise heard in their attic. Once there, they encounter two large and socially-inappropriate mice. Now these are not your cute and endearing Christmas mice, but rather human-sized anthropomorphic ones who not only take up residence in your attic, but also rifle through personal possessions and even put on your stored clothing that they find there! Clearly, a line of some sort has been crossed here…

One of the mice appears to be looking through a photo album while another is wearing some kind of frilly feminine outfit, possibly a bridal gown. We’ll hope that said mouse is female, as I prefer not to even consider the thought of cross-gender dressing rodents, much less what pleasure they may take in such acts. No creature does this better than Bugs Bunny, anyways, and he always uses the ploy to confound his adversaries. Small wonder, then, that the couple order the offending vermin out…humanoid mice need to have a better sense of decorum. As the commercial concludes, enough is enough…

d-Con’s “Mouse in the Pantry” Commercial

December 19, 2014

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In a short, arguably disgusting, but twisted commercial for d-Con pest control products, a father with two young children finds some sizable, oblong, dark-colored objects littering the kitchen floor.  “What are those?,” questions a child innocently.  Following the trail of unspeakable things to the kitchen pantry, the father jerks open the pantry door to reveal…a mouse!  A large, anthropomorphic, fursuited mouse is seated comfortably on the pantry floor while munching on some snack for humans right out of the box!  The father screams in surprise at the unwelcome furry visitor, who yells back startled at the human intruder. – – It’s a Kodak moment!  

“Get out!,” demands the father of the surprised anthro rodent.  Those were his droppings strewn on  the floor, you see.   You certainly wouldn’t want to find such a creature stirring in your house on Xmas Eve…perhaps if he were fitted with Depends, he would be less objectionable.  Darn vermin seem to get bigger every year!

 

Progressive’ s “Flo’s Family”

December 6, 2014

 

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Many of us suffer through the holiday gatherings of our dysfunctional families.  It can then be strangely comforting to view the mouth-fighting, absurdities, and friction crackling through the air at meal gatherings of Flo’s Family, she of Progressive Insurance fame.  While Flo is strangely disquieting and surreal, the viewer emerges from such commercials with a better understanding of the family dynamics which produced her, and indeed may feel oddly sympathetic.  Flo has actually done remarkably well for herself, considering her background.  This is the family from hell, and perhaps we may see a bit of our own in it.

Actress Stephanie Courtney plays six roles in a number of spots, including Flo, Janice, Todd, Diane, Dad, and Grandpa.  Most of the commercials are a mere half minute long, but in some such as Creative Thanksgiving, the ads expand to about two minutes, providing a kind of mini sitcom.  Flo’s relentlessly cheerful mother Diane announces that the family is having a “creative” Thanksgiving, which amounts to a euphemism for crazy.  Instead of a traditional turkey, Mom has made turkey balls, turkey burgers, turkey rolls, turkey sliders, and so on.  Eyeing a turkey ball with toothpick on his plate, Grandpa complains, “What is this? The Great Depression?!,” crying out to Flo as “Nurse!”  She does look like one, as Flo dresses in her white Progressive uniform every day.  Sister Janice proclaims that this constant attire is an insult to her creativity.  “Well, they were all out of tube tops at the gas station,” retorts Flo.  Dad ventures that he gets creative in where he leaves his socks.  “What’s a man gotta do to get a hot plate around here?!,” complains Grandpa.  Crazy stuff…err, I mean creative!

And so it goes…funny thing is, this would be a better sitcom than half of those currently on television!