A Troll in a Honda Commercial

Dear readers,

Here's a little clip of a Honda pilot car commercial that I stumbled onto today while searching for things on trolls. I have to share it - it's too bizarre not to. It's actually pretty clever too:



Fairy tales are a favorite for product commercials - no doubt because if you can connect your product to either the romance or nostalgia of a fairy tale, you can make a good sell. This next commercial - one for cell phones - is actually poetic and beautiful:



Shamelessly, I have to admit that this second commercial really does make me want to go out and buy a Nokia phone.

Daniel

Man with lobster claws - Denver Water

I will be away for the weekend for my brother's graduation, so I will leave a quick post before I go - driving through Denver recently, I have been noticing the billboards Denver Water has been coming up with, to illustrate that they "really know water." See the sample here. Isn't this brilliant? It definitely catches the consumer's eye, and of course in my own case it sparks long reflections and entire mini-narratives about what types of lives a mechanic with lobster claws or a water tester with tentacles might find and pursue. Perhaps some enterprising young writer ought to call Denver Water up and get the rights to start an anthology/contest of stories on that theme, so as to find out. I would, if I had more time. For now, we have this blog. Look at that advertisement - the keen focus of the man on his work, the immensity of the lobster claws balanced with their careful, almost delicate precision: this monstrosity has been gifted with the grace of a dancer. It's beautiful.

Corporate America is well aware of the power of wonder to draw a listener, delight, or shock someone into a wakeful attentiveness. Remember Microsoft's ad where the MSN butterfly weighs down one end of the seesaw, lifting the rhino on the other end into the air?

Daniel