Southern Comfort - Whatever's Comfortable

For the inaugural Asinine Ad review I have chosen the above ad by Southern Comfort, which is really just one of a series SoCo produced with this theme.


First, let's talk about this guy, specifically what he's wearing.

We see a rotund man hanging out by himself, wearing boots (look at those boots! Why is he wearing those shoes at the beach? I need to know.), a very fashionable maroon speedo and some great sunglasses. Clearly, we are supposed to think, this is a man who does not care what he looks like. I don't know him, but he seems cool. He get's a pass from me on the boots.

Slowly, the camera zooms in on his glass until we see it is a rocks glass, with the advertiser's brand printed on it, holding a limp flag. For the last few seconds of the ad a convenient breeze comes along to let us read the commercial's slogan from the flag:

What I love about this ad is its simplicity- its just one shot, one guy holding a cup of peach flavored whiskey, all set to a really, really soulful song. I think the music really does wonders- without much else going on in the ad we're left to enjoy Odetta's lovely voice.

As one who enjoys his soul music every once in a while, this ad (series) scores major points with this gem of an oldie.

Ultimately I think the producer's achieve their goal: getting us to associate their brand with the breeziness of summer and not being concerned with how others perceive us. There isn't much "action" in this spot, none at all really, but the concept is fairly captivating at the use of "Hit or Miss" makes this one a winner overall.


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Welcome to Asinine Ad

Greetings reader! 

Thanks for checking out the inaugural post.

Why spend time writing about ads? Why devote time to the worst part of television? I’m glad you asked . . .

I love television. So much so, that at times, it has been an issue. My parents went so far as to ban me from watching it after school when I was a kid. I’d like to think that I’m more mature and responsible with my TV-watching habits, but I still consume a fair amount of it. What can I do? I truly enjoy watching the news, stories and sports that come through the tube. 

However, all is not well in the land of television from my perspective. There are two sides to every coin, an evil for every good. In the case of television, that evil is commercials . . . My lord do I despise these, at least most of them. I know that this is a necessary evil, a way to fund the programming I enjoy. But I have always hated them and I suspect I always will. 

This hatred has manifested itself in a few ways throughout the years. My first coping mechanism was to simply flip channels. This worked really well when I was thirteen and just working with basic broadcast channels. Of course, this method has its drawbacks, principally that one can all to easily   miss some of the "primary" show he or she wants to watch in the first place. 

More recently a few TV technologies have come about, helping to limit the number of ads to which I am subjected, namely on demand programming/netflix and the almighty DVR. We live in an age when we can not only watch tv on demand or play recorded shows, but where cable providers are just one of a few options for television consumption.

But, despite all these advances in the TV medium, I still find myself bombarded with tv advertisements, and I still find myself hating most of them.

Which brings us to Asinine Ads. . . 

I think this blog can serve a few purposes. 

First, it will serve as therapy for me- providing a way to transform all the frustration I feel when I'm subjected to the same dumb ads time and time again into something positive.

Hopefully, as a side effect, people will read it and enjoy reading about, and perhaps discussing, why a particular Lexus commercial is "good" or "bad," or why Subway seems to invest almost no creative energy in ANYTHING they air on TV. My disdain for most ads has made me think about why I can sit through some happily and other not. 

Additionally, commercials are literally embedded in television, a very popular medium of popular culture. They may be crass, but commercials are still "out there," and worth discussing as a kind of reflection of American culture. It's interesting to see who the marketable athletes are and what technology Apple and Samsung are unveiling next.

So let’s get down to brass tacks:

What is the point of this blog? I intend to discuss the commercials that run on tv and subjectively grade them.

What commercials will you review? I will review ads that elicit a reaction from me. This probably means that only good or bad commercials will get my attention, average ones not so much.

How will you evaluate them?

First, I will, if I can, embed the ad at the top of post so that everyone can familiarize themselves with what it is I am critiquing. 

Then from there I will walk through the ads, possibly with the aid of screenshots, discussing important elements in the ad, things that stand out to me. Those elements are:

• Entertainment
• This can be hard to describe, and unfortunately, the most important one in the list. Put simply- if I enjoy watching your ad, it is, for some reason, entertaining. Sometimes I can pinpoint why this is, others have what Austin Powers would call a certain "I don't know what."
• Storytelling
• Characters, a plot, a beginning/middle/end. This element is rare, so bonus points if it is pulled off.
• Music
• Your ad makes me frantically scour the internet to find out the name of that song, perhaps leading me to play it on an endless loop on YouTube. Even if the rest of the ad is subpar- a good song can work wonders because if the song is stuck in my head, the ad probably is too. Very important.
• Humor
• Laughs are very valuable. It’s hard to pull off humor in thirty second.
• Creativity
• This can be anything that makes this ad stand out from all the others from a conceptual standpoint.
• Production value
• This does not just mean big explosions (although it can mean big bangs)! It can be a well edited, directed or produced spot. You can group production value with creativity- it just stands out even if you can’t quickly point to it.
• “Effectiveness”
• While I could search the web for the type of data marketing executives care for, I won't. That's not what this is blog is about anyway, it's about the experience the viewer (in this case me) has. So effectiveness will be measured in "I just learned about X" or "I really want to buy Y all of the sudden."

After taking all these, and other, factors into account I will assign each ad a letter grade.

Well there you have it- my game plan for this project. 

With all that already stated let us start with a few commercials!