Freakin' brilliant
The new Wendy's ad is freakin' brilliant.
The ad starts out with a bunch of idiots kicking trees. A guy dressed in a Wendy's wig realizes he doesn't have to be an idiot and stops kicking his tree. He realizes that he's in the mood for a juicy Wendy's burger. After he declaims this desire, some of the other tree-kickers start follow him in search of a Wendy's burger.
The first reason why the ad is brilliant is the sheer absurdity of it all. And the second reason is because it insults you, the viewer. The ad is the guy who stops kicking trees; you are one of the other idiotic, suggestible tree-kickers who's suddenly in the mood for a Wendy's burger because some guy (or some ad) says they're good.
But the real reason why the ad is brilliant is that the ad smacks of awareness of its own insult. The implication is that Wendy's burgers are so good that Wendy's can call you a suggestible idiot and you'll still eat there. And that insulting prophesy will surely be self-fulfilling in many cases.
In a world of vapid advertisements that hide their contempt for the consumer behind patronizing noise and imagery, it's refreshing to have one that has the courage to put its disrespect for the consumer right out in the open.
The ad starts out with a bunch of idiots kicking trees. A guy dressed in a Wendy's wig realizes he doesn't have to be an idiot and stops kicking his tree. He realizes that he's in the mood for a juicy Wendy's burger. After he declaims this desire, some of the other tree-kickers start follow him in search of a Wendy's burger.
The first reason why the ad is brilliant is the sheer absurdity of it all. And the second reason is because it insults you, the viewer. The ad is the guy who stops kicking trees; you are one of the other idiotic, suggestible tree-kickers who's suddenly in the mood for a Wendy's burger because some guy (or some ad) says they're good.
But the real reason why the ad is brilliant is that the ad smacks of awareness of its own insult. The implication is that Wendy's burgers are so good that Wendy's can call you a suggestible idiot and you'll still eat there. And that insulting prophesy will surely be self-fulfilling in many cases.
In a world of vapid advertisements that hide their contempt for the consumer behind patronizing noise and imagery, it's refreshing to have one that has the courage to put its disrespect for the consumer right out in the open.
Labels: advertisements
3 Comments:
I like the Mac commercials these days. I mean I like the poor PC guy better than the smug Mac guy but they are still pretty funny :)
the ads
I like one of the later ones with all the sick PCs on the cart.. Poor poor PCs!
That's a great series of ads. Royal Canadian Air Farce likes to spoof those ads with "I'm a Liberal... and I'm a PC" ads. (The joke is that the Liberals' archenemy, the Conservative Party, used to be known as the Progressive Conservative Party, or PC's for short.) Clips can be found here, here, and here.
Every time I see the Mac ads, I think "Dodgeball!"
The new iPhone ads are so cool though. Almost makes me believe that $600 is a reasonable amount to pay for such a toy.
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