I hate TV ads
July 28, 2009
I really do. They get in the way, they’re usually too stupid for words (Auckland Glass will never see a dollar of mine. Never) and they get muted the minute they appear.
And yet, a good TV ad is really good. The UK has some of the best, and I’ve chucked a bunch of good ones in here (bunnies!).
This irks me. How can I find ads that I actually enjoy? Is it just the comparison with crap ads that makes them enjoyable? I even like the Fold ad that Vodafone produced:
(we’ll claim it as a local ad even though it was thought up by a couple of Poms and filmed in Australia. It’s as Kiwi as I am) and the bit I really like is that the whole thing hinges on the actor’s ability to do sleight of hand and so drop the things he folded without making it obvious he was doing that. Brilliant – without him, the ad would suck.
Fair Go did a piece on the making of the Fold ad which you can watch here.
I don’t know what Spike sells but I do like these ads.
Enjoy.
Journalism
February 10, 2009
Journalism should inform. It should evoke an understanding, preferably at a deep and emotional level, that the reader didn’t have before. It should afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted (yes, I’m quoting, no I’m not googling).
The Australian, along with most of the world’s media it seems, has been covering the Australian bush fires in all manner of depth and lurid detail but none of it strikes a chord as much as this report which, despite its awful headline “How we cheated flames of death” is one of the best pieces of writing I’ve seen this year.
“They warn you it comes fast. But the word ‘fast’ doesn’t come anywhere near describing it.
It comes at you like a runaway train. One minute you are preparing. The next you are fighting for your home. Then you are fighting for your life.
But it is not minutes that come between. It’s more like seconds. The firestorm moves faster than you can think, let alone react.”
Hattip: Richard York