Stanley Steemer's Staunch Stainchasers

Okay... these commercials have really gotten under my skin... in the GOOD way. At first I thought these characters were kind of stupid. Then I still thought they were stupid, but sort of amusing. Now I find them almost endearing.

When he says, "I'm not a doctor, but..." I just love it. I love how he takes himself so seriously. It's great! And I love how he takes the JOB so seriously. I think there's a little bit of this guy in each of us. A person who thinks our job is very important, thus WE'RE very important.

The amazing thing to me is this... I believe this is the first time I ever considered actually using a product or service based completely upon an advertising campaign!! I found myself watching one of these commercials the other day and realizing they also clean grout and non-carpet flooring I thought, "I ought to try those guys," as if the guys from the commercial would actually pull up in front of my house and start cleaning LOL. Advertisers just love people like me.





















- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Grass Wars

My husband brought this to my attention the other day... there are serious grass seed wars going on right now. The main battlers appear to be Pennington and Scott. Now, living in a condo, we don't have to be concerned with grass seed but when I was growing up, my dad used to re-seed the lawn every spring. Nevertheless, I don't remember any angst happening when he was making the decision about which seed to use.

These days, however, we apparently need to be just as careful with our grass seed as we are with our nutrition. Pennington has made us aware that "the other guys" fill their bags with 10 pounds of grass seed and 10 pounds of filler!! And one of these guys explains that you'll have to water their seed more because it's so high quality.

Pennington calls theirs honest grass. Scott says theirs has no filler and is of the highest quality.



The war is getting bloody out there!!

Now, I just laughed at my husband when he told me about the grass wars the first time. I hadn't heard or seen anything about this phenomenon. This morning, however, I saw my first Pennington commercial. Then, while making breakfast I HEARD my first Pennington commercial.

The grass seed blitz has infiltrated our home!

I haven't decided which one I'm rooting for yet... guess I just need to see some more commercials to make that decision.




No, the below is not a link.... it just so happened when I finished posting the above I went to another website and when I glanced down at the bottom of the page I found this!! Scary!







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sucker Punch

I don't know anything about this movie -- and know even less after the promos -- but I love these commercials. They move so fast, like weird commercial choreography they spin into an enticing dance making you want to see this show that appears to be part fairy tale and part kick butt comic.

My daughter told me she heard it was terrible and misogynistic and that she didn't want her daughter to see it. The reviewers say it's awful. But still, the commercials suck me in. The little waifish blond girl suddenly plunged into a crazy world where she comes out swinging like a super hero - yet never losing her waifishness. Something about all that draws me in and, in spite of my better judgement, I find myself wanting to spend the ridiculous fee to see this story in IMAX.

Will I do it? Probably not.







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Polite Dinner - AT&T Uverse Commercial

OH HOW I HATE THIS COMMERCIAL!!! From the first it really rubbed me the wrong way and now, after dozens of forced viewings (because somehow it finds my favorite news programs otherwise I would DVR it into oblivion) I absolutely despise and detest this commercial. It's enough to make me NEVER want Uverse - whatever that is.

I loathe the expressions on their faces. I am sickened by the idiotic conversation. I cringe knowing the next stupid sentence that will be croaked from their annoying throats.

I can't stand this family unit. I can't stand each of the individuals. But most of all -- the creator of this monstrosity of an ad should be taken out and forced to watch it repeatedly with his eyes taped open Clockwork Orange style.

'Nuff said.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The Filet Song

McDonalds has brought back the filet of fish sandwich. Since I don't usually dine there, I didn't even know it was gone but hearing about its return brought me memories of one of the creepiest commercials ever made... The phone-calling filet demanding and singing Billy Bass fish with his menacing words, "What if it were YOU hanging up on this wall," like something that just swam out of an EC Comic Book!

Give me back that filet-o-fish, give me that fish (ahh!)
Give me back that filet-o-fish, give me that fish
What if it were you hanging up on this wall
If it were you in this sandwich you wouldn't be laughing at all!
Give me back my filet-o-fish (ahh!)





Now that was one weird commercial and it didn't leave ME feeling much like eating, let alone eating a fish. As a matter of fact, the commercial was a little terrifying. Nothing like a stalker stuffed fish threatening to eviscerate you and hang you as a trophy to make your chops water for some tartar sauce soaked filet!

The odd part was that nobody seemed to really NOTICE how scary this commercial was. People went around humming it, watching it, but the words didn't penetrate - even with me - until one day I really listened to it. Then I brought it to my husband's attention. He had never paid much attention either. So here was the McDonald's corporation with some much darker agenda on their mind -- to subliminally sublimate us to amphibian rule?

You decide!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

M&Ms... Always Good

M&Ms are not only a good candy (yum) but they have always had some good advertising. I remember the days when they used to run the commercial with a little cartoon of the M&M jumping into the big candy coating pool and lying out on the chaise lounge to try -- in regular and peanut! My brother and I used to day dream about going swimming with one of those Ms!

Then who could ever forget the, "Melts in your mouth, not in your hand!" campaign. We still use that phrase today for all sorts of jokes. And they STILL melt in your mouth, not in your hand!

And M&Ms are so much fun to eat. I used to have a boss who would line them up on her desk like little warriors preparing to go to battle on her tongue. She was rather controlling and the M&Ms helped de-stress her in the uncontrollable market research facility she was trying to run.

The more recent ads with the celebrities turning into M&Ms and M&Ms concerned about turning into pretzels have been somewhat entertaining and good for a chuckle even if they don't have the staying power of "melts in your mouth..."

All this leaves you with a good home feeling about M&Ms... as if they are some distant family member that makes the holidays lots of fun. I, for one, can't imagine a world without M&Ms. They make great reindeer eyes on cookies, terrific additions to just about any baking project, wonderful mindless (but very caloric) snacking during television. It was very disconcerting to me when I participated in a class by a health guru and he brought in an organic chocolate candy bar and a pack of peanut M&Ms and compared the ingredients. I felt as if my favorite uncle had gotten caught molesting children!

Nevertheless, their ad campaigns are still pretty enjoyable.

E-Trade Baby... Shut Him Up!

I hate to be such a curmudgeon (no, I don't really) but I just cannot stand the E-Trade talking baby. A small sampling of local opinions tells me that I am not alone in my disdain of this ad campaign.

Yes, I love babies. I adore my own grandchildren... and I even sort of love the use of innocent children and animals in commercials and TV shows. But I absolutely cannot stand this horrible E-Trade baby. The concept is not clever like "Look Who's Talking." It's not fun or even funny. It's just horribly obnoxious.

I don't even like to watch it in fast-forward!

It isn't funny, never was funny, and always will be very annoying.

Find something else E-Trade!

T-Mobile Girl is FREEZING

So T-Mobile has this new ad campaign that has a couple of problems here, in the Chicago area. First, a month or so ago they put up a big side-of-building billboard with a picture of the T-Mobile girl on it (see the girl in pink to the left). She doesn't have that exact dress on, but a pink spaghetti strap polka dot. All one can think about when glancing at this poor girl is how COLD it is outside and how COLD she must be (until you realize that you're thinking about a billboard picture).

A girl in a springy pink dress is not a good promo during the snowiest February on record EVER in Chicago. What can I say? Every morning on my way to work, I pass by this girl and think about how poorly dressed she is for the weather. And to make things even worse for T-Mobile, I keep thinking she's the Verizon girl!

Secondly, it's just such a rip off of the Mac vs. IBM ads... that's the other thing you think about when you're fast forwarding through the commercials. You start off by thinking that T-Mobile is ripping off Mac's campaign and end up remembering that Verizon ripped off the campaign.

Now, maybe that's what T-Mobile was after all along... a subtle way to undercut the competition. But, if not, they are not doing themselves any favors posting this freezing unremarkable girl on an icy Chicago brick wall in the middle of February. It just goes to show you how T-Mobile doesn't fit in the Windy City. If it did, she'd be wearing a big down coat with a Bears' logo on it and her hair would be very windblown!