I know, I've overanalayzed them.

I've realised something. I don't watch commercials (or listen to them on the radio) - I critique them. Of course, I often critique them from the standpoint of how relevant they are to me, which means tampon ads make me roll my eyes because I don't need tampons so why are they even bothering to show those commercials. I don't know how it happened but it seems that I've somehow come to the view that advertisers are targeting me all the time, which is absurd. Irregardless (yay for non-words that people use way too often), here are some commercials I have seen recently that I like and dislike.

Sico Paints
Right now Sico Paints has an ad out that features a visual of different paints in different colours splashing around the screen, much like this ad. As a side note, I actually like the ad I just linked to, but it is not the ad to which I am referring. No, the ad I am talking about (BLOGging about?) has similar visuals, but has the song 'True Colours' as its theme, though not sung by Cindy Lauper. The visuals are okay; it is the song that bothers me. To be more specific, it is the combination with the song and the commercial. I have no problem with liscencing a popular song for an ad, but this one doesn't work simply because it is mismatched with the content. Someone obviously heard the song one day and thought to themselves 'hey, this song has the word colours in it and I have to make an ad about paints. It's an obvious match." This ignores the fact that the song is about someone looking beyond what is seen on the surface, past the ugliness that is only surface deep to the pearl that may not be often seen but is in fact truly beautiful. The ad, however, says 'we can put colours on your wall'. If you really want to delve deeply into it, the commercial says 'the true colours are what is on the surface', which is the exact opposite message of the song. That dichotomy really makes me think that the person who decided to use the song only cared that: a) the song had been popular at one point, and b)it had the word 'colours' in the most reconisable part. There was no real thought put into the commercial and that irritates the heck out of me.
The visuals are kinda cool, though.

The Keg
I like the Keg. It's a good restaurant. The song they have on their latest commercials (I think there are two of them) actually makes me not want to go to their restaurant. I actually try to block out the sound of the ad when it comes on. I have no real explanation for why, I just despise the song. I also roll my eyes at what is happening in the restaurant - everyone is having a good time and it's like everyone is one big family: the servers are all in fantastic moods and very perky and friendly, and the group of attractive twenty-something girls are buying drinks for the ruggedly handsome twenty-something attractive men and everyone is just happy and laughing. Maybe it's because I worked in restaurants and know that it is rarely anything like how the ads present it at all, and maybe I'm a bitter old man. Either way, I don't like the ad, but mostly because of the music.

Kelsey's
This ad is very similar to the Keg ad, except that the song is the theme from Cheers. I like the song, but the ad is too similar to the Keg's. I think I saw the Keg ad first and this one suffered for that.

ScotiaBank's 2% cash back credit card
I've already discussed this ad (March 23, 2009). It drives me nuts.

Boston Pizza
They came out with an ad that featured a family (Father, Mother, Daughter, Son, Baby boy) who were very alike in manner and appearance - they all wore black rimmed glasses and were very conservatively dressed, and they all questioned the price of the BP's $9.99 menu, wondering if each item was actually that price, if the price was the first of three easy payments, etc. The hook at the end was that the baby, no more than ten months old and also wearing the same glasses, also piped up with a question. That ad was okay. Now they've come out with a sequel promoting their 'italian' food special, where the baby reminices about his time in 'Roma'. I understand why it was made - even if it hadn't been planned from the start, the original was interesting enough to be somewhat popular, and companies want recognisable 'mascots' (for lack of better term). I just don't think the concept lent itself enough to be ongoing, and the initial surprise of the talking baby is gone, so now it is boring and somewhat obvious: "Hey, the baby talks. Let's make him talk every time now and make him do things that he obviously wouldn't do alone because he's just a bayyyybbbbeeeeeeeeeee!"

Chevy
They have two I'm thinking of right now. One has a guy talking about how the Chevy...Traverse (I think?)(their midsize 'crossover') has more storage space than Honda's comparable vehicle. I just don't like the guy who is doing the talking. For some reason, I don't trust him. And this isn't my anti-Chevy bias (which I picked up from Peter) shining through because I always thought it was an ad for Toyota or Honda until recently. I never paid attention to which car had better storage.
The other Chevy ad is promoting their warantee (that's a hard word to spell)(I think I got it wrong) plan and their three years of inclusive service or whatever it is, and their various other guarantees. It features a different guy walking through various buildings as he is giving the information. I think I don't like this one largely because I don't like how they filmed him walking and talking. I'm not sure if I would dislike any method of him walking and talking or if it is just the approach used in this commercial, but either way, I don't like it. Makes me want to go buy a Ford.

Kia Soul
There were some teaser commercials a little while ago that featured people doing something or about to do something, and then they would stop and walk right up into the camera like it was a window they were looking through, and they would peer intently at... A website would then pop up: peerintoasoul.ca. That was the entire commercial. They lasted maybe fifteen seconds. I saw these many times and was very intrigued, always telling myself that I should check out the website because this had some potential. Optomistic me thought that this was advertising a website that might discuss philosophical, ethical, moral, and spiritual issues in a very serious way - somewhere that people could go and it would be moderated so that stupid comments (and so called Trolls) would be prohibitted and eliminated immediately. Either that or it was something very artistic, fraught with questions not answered.
Nope. It was a car.
To be fair, the full length commercials are actually amusing. One has some Mafia thugs distracted by this new car, and while their backs are turned their victim, with arms and legs still bound, hops away to freedom. Another has a cabin surrounded by the forest at night while a group of pyjama clad sorority girls are inside, listening to music, painting their nails, having a pillow fight, etc., just waiting for the psycho to come slaughter them. On the way, the psycho gets distracted by the car, and when the scene cuts, it is now morning and the sun is up, the birds are chirping, the still living sorority girls are beginning to stir from their slumber and the axe-weilding, mask wearing psycho suddenly realises it is morning and he runs off into the woods. The ads aren't bad, but they are tainted by the potential that was wasted.
On a car.

Tomorrow I'll post the commercials I have seen that I actually like, just so you don't think I am merely a hater. I might have too much free time on my hands.

I drank milk that was a week past its expiration date and it tasted fine. My fridge scares me sometimes.

And then I updated Grasp the Nettle.