Ads That I Like

Here are some ads that I like.

Mr. Lube
They have a series right now featuring a guy working at a generic oil change place. Someone will come up to the counter and he will interact with them to hilarious results. In one, oil change guy (OCG) tells the customer (TC) that he (TC) has to call the appointment line to make an appointment, even though he is already at the shop. So TC calls the number causing a phone on the counter to ring. OCG answers the phone, tells TC over the phone to hold, and the lowers the phone and shakes his head in amazement, saying to TC that "they are swamped". My favourite part is how OCG tells the guy to call the number, points to a sign, and then looks down, pointing at the sign again to encourage him to call the number.
Another features the same set up, but this time when the guy calls the number, OCG starts saying "for service in English pres..." only to be interrupted by TC pressing one. OCG then lowers the phone and tells TC not to interrupt. There are a couple of others as well, and all of them make me laugh.

The Alberta Institute of Recycling (or something like that).
These are ads made to encourage people in Alberta to recycle. They are set up much like the old Bud Light institute commercials where a pseudo-scientific lab is set up for hijinx and hilarity. One has a dog that has been trained to retrieve recyclables that have been thrown in the garbage, but when it is released to get the bottle that the tester has thrown in the garbage it jumps and latches onto his crotch, with cringe worthy results. The other features a pill that makes people more likely to recycle. The 'official' of the 'institute' who is explaining these products goes into a testing room where a woman, with her back to the camera, has a bottle in her hand and she is vacillating between the garbage and the recycling bin. Finally she tosses it into the recycling bin and the 'official' seems pleased. And then the woman turns around and she has hair growing out of her face - a huge spot of really long hair from the middle of her cheek, more from her forehead, etc. It's kind of creepy. She smiles at the 'official' and says "hello" in a slightly sultry manner. The official looks distressed and slightly repulsed and says "Sweet Mother!" It is mostly how he says it that is amusing. He quickly closes the door and turns back to the camera. "Of course," he says, "there are still some side effects." Meanwhile, the woman has come up to the door, which has a large window in the top half, and started licking the glass. The man moves to block her from sight, which works until she moves to the other half of the window, which he is not blocking, while still licking it. His reaction and then her licking the glass make me laugh every time.

Ford
Not much to this ad, just a bunch of people extolling the virtues of Ford. It is one of those ads that features a bunch of people saying the same sentence or paragraph, and each person says a few words and then the next person says the next few words, and sometimes the next person will repeat what was just said to emphasize a point. It's been done before, and will be done again. It is executed without any real problems. They repeat things a bit too often for my taste, but that's my only quibble, and it is a minor one at that. I'm honestly not sure why I like this ad except to say that the music, I think, seems to tie it all together rather well. I just like the ad.

Shaw
They have two commercials extolling their contractless cable service. The point of the ads is that contracts for cable service are monoliths of rudeness that leave you trapped. Both ads feature a giant man (eight feet tall or more) made out of paper (or made out of contracts, if you will). The first is a guy on the couch with this man, watching TV. The guy wonders why they are watching the show because it is not funny. He then asks to watch something else, to which the contract replies by spitting a piece of paper onto the man laps which simply reads 'no'.
The second, and more amusing, ad has a woman come home to this giant paper man. She is carrying bags of groceries and the man offers to help her, taking the bags. She then gazes at him lovingly and says "can you believe it has been three moths already?" The man mutters "oh really" drops the bags and sits down, telling the woman to "go make me a sandwich". The woman looks hurt and says "where's the nice contract I fell in love with?", to which the contract replies "he's right here. And he wants a sandwich." And as the picture changes to the information screen and fades out, his voice can be heard one last time saying, "and no crusts".
These ads amuse me because of the voice of the contract, which is slightly accented, and very deep and rumbly even as it is soft. I also like the blatant lack of subtlety on the part of the contract. The second the three months is up, he becomes a boor, demanding a sandwich. The humans do a good job too.

Kia Forte
Somehow Kia followed up a massively disappointing (to me) ad campaign with one that I am enjoying. They have a new vehicle called a Forte. The ads feature people doing things very poorly, saying that "'whatever' is not my forte." Then they indicate their vehicle and say "But that is". Simple but effective. One starts with children in a park suddenly running madly away from a horde of bees, and then it switches to a guy who has a bunch of empty bee...keeping...things. "Bee keeping. Not my Forte," he says before pointing at the car. "But that is." Another is karate (he gets kicked through a window), and another is 'Minding my own business' (he gets tied to a pole by some thugs who didn't have their dog on a leash). Despite their failures, they are all really proud and excited about their car. It makes me feel glad for them, that they have something good going for them.
Also, in very tiny letters at the bottom of the screen on the beekeeping ad, it says "Child actors. No children were harmed in the making of this commercial", which I'm glad to see because I assumed at first that they ambushed some kids in the park by shaking beehives until the bees were frothing at their mouths from anger and then throwing the hives at the children and taping the results, all the while laughing at the pain inflicted on the poor little gaffers.
Was that sarcasm? I can't always tell.
(Yes. Yes it was.)

Grasp the Nettle