Finally, The Original And Greatest.

For years I've tried to find this one on YouTube.  Finally it's turned up.  Possibly the greatest Canadian PSA ever, the story of the Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe and what happened one fateful night.  The later ones in the series are cute, but don't have the weight of the original.

Amazing.

A Fight Network ad break that doesn't include a Dr. Ho pain relief ad.

Yes, I've been watching Fight Network a lot the last while.

Shameless.

I just saw a TV ad for Boeing on Sportsnet, saying how wonderful they are to Canada.  This comes after Boeing convinced the US Commerce Department to place 300 percent in tariffs on Bombardier's C Series jet airliner.  The C Series, which US airline Delta may order as many as 125 of, doesn't compete with any aircraft in Boeing's current airliner lineup.  Putting who knows how many Canadian jobs at risk, especially if Canada retaliates against Boeing products, doesn't seem very friendly.

Hey, Jack 96.9 FM!

Those ads currently airing during the Blue Jays games are really annoying.  I find it hard to believe those two guys are your top on air talent.

Will Work For Airtime?

Talk about hard up for work.  I just saw a Telus cell phone ad with Richard Simmons in it.  Does he really need money that badly that he's willing to be mocked in a Canadian market TV ad?

Menace Of The Endless Campaign.

I was not amused.  I just saw an anti-NDP attack ad, courtesy of the Conservative Party.  If you're not a Canadian you aren't likely to know that we aren't in the middle of an election campaign.  In fact the next election, barring some major surprise, won't be until October of 2015.  So why the hell are we seeing this stuff now?  Do we face a neverending election campaign, where the parties never stop harrassing us?  The party hacks who support such activities may wish to read the story of the boy who cried wolf. Bash the other guys too much and the voters may come to ignore your claims.

The Onslaught Begins.

I just saw my first Canadian commercial for KFC's Double Down Sandwich.  If you chomped down on one today feel free to leave a comment on what you thought.  I doubt I'll be eating one anytime soon.  For those rare times I go to KFC I'll stick to their Big Crunch chicken burger.

Oh Those Lovely Double Standards.

I've been seeing this Irish Spring ad a lot lately.  It strikes me as a good example of the double standards that continue to exist in society.  You would never see an ad like this where two random men are watching a woman bathe without her knowing it.  It would be considered weird and creepy.  But it's apparently okay for women to do it.  The implication is not only are women not dangerous to men, but that a man wouldn't be upset about being seen by female voyeurs.  After all a man is supposed to always want sexual attention from women, so of course it's all right for then to do something like this and no real man would be upset by it.

A Bit More Precise.

The World Cup is over.  Despite all the hype it will be interesting to see how well the broadcasts actually did in North America.  Soccer still has a long ways to go here to getting the regular attention other sports get.  Personally I didn't watch because I find soccer has the same flaw as hockey, too much chasing back and forth for not much result.

On the other hand if you watched other sports on TV during the series you probably saw the same Coke ad I saw multiple times.  It revolved around the story of Roger Milla kickstarting the tradition of celebratory dances after scoring a goal.  Oddly the ad refered to him as "an African named Roger Milla."  Why not give his country?  After all I can't imagine having a Formula One themed ad using phrasing like "an European named Michael Schumacher."  A quick check shows that Milla is from Cameroon.  It would be interesting to know why Coca Cola felt a need not to mention his nationality.  Did they figure North American viewers wouldn't have a clue where Cameroon was?

Axe For Idiots.

Have you seen the recent batch of ads for various Ax products?  The company is maintaining its traditional subbasement level standards of ad quality.  One of them is for a deodorant that apparently changes scents as time passes.  It includes a line about how women are easily bored, which is apparently why you should use the product.  This strikes me as just a particularly blatant example of the subtext that runs through all the Ax ads, namely that Ax customers are a bunch of sexist twits.  I wonder how many of the intended target audience get that and as a result avoid Ax products because they've been insulted.

Give It A Tug.

Another nostalgia find from YouTube.  I don't remember this ad specifically, and I suspect the Canadian market might have had its own specific ads.  But I definitely remember thinking Quasar brand TVs were cool back in the '70s.  I also remember the female vocal bit at the end. For years I would pull on the cabinets of TVs, hoping to find the "works in a drawer," because when you're a little kid a secret drawer full of electronic gizmos is cool!  Now if I could find the spoof of these ads from the '70s Wayne and Shuster shows, which featured a female voice shrieking "Crazar!"

What Is That Thing?

Have you seen the TV ad for the Titan Peeler?  If so, could you tell me what the hell that thing that looks like a giant erect penis is?  Seriously, how the hell did that get past the standards and practices guys?

(No, I don't cook much in the way of veggies.  Why do you ask?)

The Official Site.

A regular part of my Saturday morning in recent months has been watching poker shows on GameTV, the Canadian game show channel. The ad content during the broadcasts is heavy on gimmicky stuff to mail order, like the Slap Chop and goofy exercise devices. This includes an ad for the Prayer Cross, a crystal and silver charm that has the Lord's Prayer imbedded in the centre. When you hold it up to a source of light you can see the prayer appear. And to my surprise it actually has its own official site. Yeah, I know, you're probably sitting there going "Well, duh, idiot." Frankly this "unique spiritual accessory," as the ads call it, seems extremely cheesy to me. But I'm sure it has a wide appeal given that we live in a world where people get all excited when a spot of oil or a cheese sandwich looks vaguely like Jesus. Many people's religious faith is in fact as deep as the kind of puddle that would dry up to leave a Jesus shaped blotch, so they're likely to be mighty impressed by this thing.

Room For Manipulation.

Currently on Canadian TV there are a series of ads running for Viagra. The ads feature people talking in made up words, except for the word Viagra. But one of the ads would be great fodder for a bit of manipulation. It shows two men talking about Viagra at a barbeque. But given the way they say their lines, the phrasing, and their facial expressions it wouldn't be too hard to add subtitles to the ad that translate the dialogue as being about something bad happening to someone who used Viagra, like a heart attack. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if someone actually does something like this, only shooting a fake ad and perhaps using a fake name to avoid getting into any sort of legal trouble. The ads are only airing in Canada as of yet, but if the campaign does well here I wouldn't be surprised to see it expand to other markets.

(And if someone comes across this post who does work for a comedy show and uses this idea I want a writing credit and some financial compensation for using the idea.)

"....Robin downloads the winning goal...."

If you watch the Canadian sports channels, and I assume other Canadian channels as well, you probably know that line by now. For those who don't its from an ad for Rogers Communications cell phone service. In the ad an intrepid trio, including the lovely Robin, head to Germany to watch the FIFA World Cup. When they can't get tickets Robin uses her cell phone to download the winning goal so our heroes and their new friends can watch it. Soon after first seeing the ad I couldn't help but wonder exactly how much doing something like that would cost, assuming its even possible with a Canadian market cell phone in Germany. I can just imagine the poor girl arriving home in Canada and finding a gigantic charge on her telephone bill for downloading a short bit of video. Then again these kids don't strike me as too smart. After all they decided to attend one of the world's major sporting events without bothering to buy tickets in advance. Like oh, say a year or so in advance given the world wide market for it. Its not like trying to buy Grey Cup tickets, where interest is all but zip outside Canada.

The US electronics chain Circuit City is currently using the classic Cars tune "Just What I Needed" in their ads. Of course its the chorus hook they're interested in, not the rest of the lyrics. Somehow I doubt they want you associating the products they sell with the line "wasting all my time" that is repeated several times in the verses. On the other hand I'm sure they'd like you to "kind of lose (your) mind" over their products and service. Hopefully the estate of Ben Orr, the Cars' bassist/vocalist who died a couple of years ago of liver cancer, will get some nice money from the ad, since its Ben singing the song.