I wonder where I found the energy to write this one..

Two car ads in a row? Perhaps I'm developing a bit of a thirst for some petrol based autonomy (a car) or perhaps i'm running out of steam...Just like the cars on the production line at Renault Z.E (Zero Emissions)

What a wonderful little ad this is. How strangely endearing yet pathetic are the petrol run appliances in this would-be-world? With their chug-chugs and splutters, this ad envisions how sad and cumbersome our lives will be if we never give up petrol. Of course it's all an exaggeration but a necessarily profound one at that. It tells not so much of the impracticalities of such a reliance on petrol, petrol in truth couldn't be more convenient with stations dotted freely around, but stirs feelings of disappointment in such a stale existence (mild sepia tones).

It's a mission statement rather than a sales pitch and in that sense I think this ad works nicely. Sort of a prerequisite; there'd be no use in just pitching the new cars without first instilling the need for them.

The concluding voice over 'you already switch to electricity for many things' could do with being more optimistic. Perhaps change the 'you' to 'we've', it's a small matter for picky buggers but hey. I'm a big advocate of the 'future-now' tone of voice rather than the 'placid future-angel/you think you're in paradise but we're actually going to harvest your organs tone of voice) We'll give them time to anglicise it though, as it's running first in Italy and France.

The power of a good demo

VW's new 'Amarok' AKA 'I'm-a-rock'

There's nothing like a simple demonstration to straightforwardly prove a point. A tried and tested method, a demonstration is one of the most directly effective ways to show off your product's selling point. For adverts though it's usually indicative of half-hearted creative thinking. In this case however Iris, the agency behind the idea, conjure up a well-calculated display of the USP 'Power,' something which you'd have to commit a fair 'whack' of intellectual 'oomph' or 'ooosh' to before coming up with an original idea.

Although this one's highly staged you can't say it's an ad exaggeration, they've gone to great lengths to create a real-life albeit not everyday demonstration. The visual imagery of the chimney coming down really 'hammers' the message of POWER home, although it would of been nice to see more debris, and hopefully gets the adrenaline going in every muscle-car, meat head American wannabe on our fine British roads...or those of us who own a boat.

Say love...isn't it about time we took down the garden shed?

From taboo to taboo

Blast! No Youtube video for this one, you'll all just have to keep your eyes peeled. The ad in question is for 'Diagnosis: Live from the clinic' which starts soon on Channel 4. Featuring a young man, home alone who turns on his laptop, drops his pants and lies down on the sofa opposite, presumably for a little pre-watershed DIY. At which point the resident Dr. Christen Jessen appears onscreen to assess our young fellow's affliction.

I like this ad because by placing one taboo next to another it creates a comparison; is he really going to wank?! Oh no, it's okay, he's only acknowledging the topic of his own sexual health...albeit in a rather fruity fashion. Despite its low-budget execution, the ad is effective because it has a good idea at the core. It manages to downplay the taboo of talking about sexual health; as a viewer you approve of him asking for help instead of masturbating before our eyes. This ad is wonderfully light hearted and gently pokes fun at a subject which is rarely approached.

What is Success?

Adverts like the following really nark me off; broadly promising the enhancement of your individuality, they're a dime a dozen these days. Honestly, who sees these ads and thinks 'yes, finally I can be the creative I've always wanted to be!' True creatives do like new toys and gizmos but when you get down to brass tax I think it's what's most convenient that helps you get your stuff done, and that tends to be what you have already. If you can't be creative with limited resources then you're not creative..surely?

Two things here get my back up: the pseudo-existentialist mumbo jumbo and the cruddy copy. It moves from 'Success doesn't need a desk' to 'Success goes big,' there no continuation of argument. The assertions made by each bit of copy come across to me as shallow at best and bullshit at worst. They don't seem like the kinds of things real successful people would feel or believe..they're stab in the dark arbitrary assumptions. Take a look see.

The idea: 'success' is relative to the individual. To me this waters down the potency of what success actually is. How can 'success' be you doing anything...even if it is your thang...diving in snow, eating popcorn or hailing a taxi, sitting on a train writing a text?! How is that success? To me, this is not a depiction of success...it's a depiction of a somewhat fulfilled lifestyle, if you have no aspirations. Which, ok, to some people is success...Being happy to be alive everyday. When you put it like that it sounds like a great concept. Doesn't it? Except it's nonsense. 'Success' to me is something that has to be worked out..something that in its absence we feel empty or unworthy and in its presence or upon its realisation we are truly lifted. Success is achievement and so to me 'being happy everyday' as 'success' is a far stretch of the imagination but doesn't ring true. Call me a hard ass and a kill joy but that's how I feel.

Always Read the Sneaky Print

This one may be short as I've pretty much dragged myself up and out of bed at 8.00am through the desire for a pre-work photo hunt. 'Always read the small-print' that's what they say isn't it? But these days who does, apart from me of course; due to some deep-seated obsessive compulsive desire to increase knowledge therefore dominance over you all I read manuals, books, magazines and even impromptu street-side flyers, those lowliest and most unloved of the promotional ... (it's not a disorder...honest.)

What's deliciously cunning of the inconspicuous, unobtrusive 'small print' is its total ability to be forgotten and unobserved. So do most of us either trust adverts to not be misleading or false or simply believe in this day and age they can't be due to bodies such as the ASA? I think it's most likely we just can't be bothered. One such sneaky-print offender I recently spied.

In truth I was actually hoping to find the 118 500 ad with the dude precariously hovering above presumably his girlfriend's fish tank before he durrr...drops his shaver in said tank. Do you know the one? Of course you do. Well, not only do I hate the ad and believe the service utterly redundant in the days of Google, Yell apps and under the shadow of 118 118 but think it's so cheeky that BT, a prominent telecommunications and internet service 'providings' giant should have the cheek to offer what is seemingly a helpful service at such an extortionate rate! Thus ends today's short yet vocally elaborate and somewhat overly wordy rant. Wish me luck snapping.