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TV Commercials


Sean has made a couple posts [here, and here] on advertising and commercials... a subject that I've always been intrigued with. 

While we're on the subject of commercials, I'm noticing a new cliche that's penetrating through the desensitized, Kevlar coated, commercial-induced ADD mentality I've built up over the years... There seems to be more and more commercials that show something to clinch your attention, while a logo that belongs to a completely unrelated service hangs there in the corner, quietly associating itself with the coolness of the clincher-content, which can include the hottest of ladies doing who cares what (this has nothing to do with insurance, but who cares, we're watching), or an extreme skiier descending 1500 feet in 30 seconds, or a monkee throwing kittens at a ceiling fan. 

I don't need another fabric softener commercial explaining why I need fabric softener, I need 30 seconds of  vertical drops, 34Ds, backflips, fist-fights, explosions, compound fractures, 34Ds, police chases, wheelies, jumps, crashes, and 34Ds... with a half-transparent Snuggle Bear™ in the corner of the screen.

Speaking of Sean, I was checking out the Grok Talks the other day, Scott Hanselman's in particular, when his name came up (around 9 minutes in, when Scott is going over the Windows Desktop Search utility) on Scott's search results.  I was going to use Cropper and post an image of it up here, but Cropper doesn't work with Windows Media Player... so you'll just have to download Scott's Grok Talk and keep your trigger-happy click finger poised on pause at around 9 minutes.

By the way... The name at the top of the Cropper site is Brian Scott... Is this funny to anyone else in the industry??? 

Update: Scott Isaacs cleared this one up here, no offense to Brian Scott intended. :)
   2 comments regarding Scott's post:
      1. There must be more Brians??? I just feel it must be the case, can't back it up at all though.
      2. Neglected to post the other Scott Isaacs, and I have to wonder how many points he would get???

Print | posted on Thursday, June 30, 2005 10:46 AM

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# re: TV Commercials

left by Brian Scott at 6/30/2005 11:05 AM Gravatar
Great blog, but I don't think I get it. Whats funny with my name?

Oh, and it's the hardware exceleration in Windows Media Player (and WinAmp also) that causes the screenshot problem. When it's on, the video is drawn on top of the desktop window so it can't be captured in the normal way. Temporarily turning it off will allow you to capture the video area.

# re: TV Commercials

left by Gerry at 6/30/2005 12:07 PM Gravatar
Thanks... I may leave it to Scott Isaacs (whose real name is Bryan btw) to answer the "what's funny" question, but the short answer is that there seems to be more Brians and Scotts in the .Net world than any other name, but I didn't realize there was somebody named Brian Scott... it's probably just me, I'm retarded.

Anyway, I tried to capture a screenshot and paste it into Photoshop, and it seemed to work, until I realized that there seemed to be an overlay on the pasted layer, and the content of the video disappeared in favor of blackness when saved to jpg. Possibly more hardware accelleration shinanigans but still interesting that the behavior of the layer in Photoshop is affected.

# re: TV Commercials

left by Sean McCormack at 6/30/2005 12:55 PM Gravatar
Good point on the commercial cliches. First one that comes to mind is GoDaddy.com commercials. Not sure what the busty biker babe has to do with it...but it obviously stuck with me. ;) Another one is the roller-blading hotties in the GAP commercials. I haven't roller-bladed through the GAP for a while - but it stuck with me, too. Guess they're succeeding?? Bastards...

I use Gadwin PrintScreen to do screen captures. Awesome tool - and FREE!
http://www.gadwin.com/printscreen/

# re: TV Commercials

left by optionsScalper at 6/30/2005 1:40 PM Gravatar
Gerry,

I mentioned the Disaronno commercial here:

http://www.jjbresearch.org/acs/blogs/optionsscalper/archive/2005/06/26/GiveItARest.aspx

and an IBM commercial here:

http://www.jjbresearch.org/acs/blogs/optionsscalper/archive/2005/06/17/SecurityBiometrics.aspx

There aren't enough 34Ds in the either commercial, but the tagline in the Disaronno commercial makes up for it:

"Pass the Pleasure Around"

I agree with Sean on the movie advertising: way too much.

At the theater, show me a few trailers for stuff I might want to see. Its bad enough that I have to endure talkative people and cell phones and other annoyances in movie theaters.

DVDs are also a big problem with ads. Don't make me watch the ads on the DVD. Its insulting. I already paid money to watch the content. I don't need to be force fed advertising that I may not want.

I'm still sick, so that explains my crabbiness and lack of coherent posts.

---O

p.s. I really don't watch that much TV. No really, I don't.

# re: TV Commercials

left by Damon Payne at 6/30/2005 1:41 PM Gravatar
A commercial that has stuck with me for years is a rent-a-car commericial where the execs are sitting around the boardroom saying "Is there any way we could get them to their car even _faster_?" Forward to an unwitting customer with a jet-pack on, which when powered up sends him directly into a tangle of power lines. I don't think he lived.

If that monkees/kittens/fan thing exists, I'd like to see it, perhaps keep it as a screensaver.

# re: TV Commercials

left by optionsScalper at 6/30/2005 2:20 PM Gravatar
Damon,

Stay on topic. Were there any 34Ds in the commercial? If there was a jet-pack in the commercial and the girl with the 34Ds was wearing it, did they show her in slow motion?

---O

# That's My Name -- Don't Wear It Out

left by Tap My Mind at 6/30/2005 4:22 PM Gravatar
So Gerry posted about Sean's posts about commercials, etc.&nbsp; Lot's of interesting stuff there --...

# re: TV Commercials

left by Scott Isaacs at 6/30/2005 4:34 PM Gravatar
I *did* post the other Scott Isaacs. He's the second from the bottom of the list. As I write this, though, I'm changing his name to actually say "The Other Scott Isaacs". (It just says "Scott Isaacs" right now.)

# re: TV Commercials

left by Scott Isaacs at 6/30/2005 4:36 PM Gravatar
Also, you're right. I'm sure there are more Bryans/Brians. I just got tired of trying to think of them. This type of thing takes a lot out of me, you know...

# re: TV Commercials

left by optionsScalper at 6/30/2005 4:47 PM Gravatar
Ok, hang on a sec. Maybe its me, but I saw a reference to 34Ds in the original post. Why are we carrying on about guys names?

Gerry - Could you provide links to screenshots of commercials with 34Ds in them?

---O (fixated)

# re: TV Commercials

left by Scott Hanselman at 6/30/2005 7:34 PM Gravatar
You can use Cropper with Windows Media by turning off Windows Media's Hardware Slider...

# re: TV Commercials

left by gamefly at 12/11/2005 7:38 PM Gravatar
its cool
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