Tuesday, March 23, 2010

My Favorite TV Commercials

I have many faults, but one of them is not doing the "Oh, I'm soooo not into television....I don't do the couch potato thing" thing.  As if people who enjoy television don't also enjoy being active.  Or using their minds.

Now, some people truly aren't television watchers.  But you know the ones I'm talking about:  The "Oh, I am so above the rest of you who waste your precious earth moments sitting staring at a rectangle" people.  As if anyone who likes television only watches reality shows, The Bachelor, and inane sit coms.  (Oh oh, now I'm sounding judgmental, aren't I?  And not all sit coms are created equal, let me admit right now.)

Anyway, I love film and for all of its aspects, not for merely a good story or escapism.  So I will watch movies on TV all the time (not Lifetime stuff....real movies....judgmental again.)  I also like smart sit coms like the unfortunately now-defunct Sex and the City on HBO.  And let me add that My So-Called Life of long ago was the only show to date (sorry, Room 222) that depicted high school true to life (and I should know, since I spent my entire pre-retirement years teaching there.)  It presented timely issues and made the audience think.   In addition, I sometimes watch the Weather Channel as if it were a movie, some fascinating recounts of disasters and important information for viewers regarding safety in "what if" situations.

I depend upon CNN to keep me up to date (sorry, conservative Fox viewers....) and am glued to the educational programs that have been created either in specials (HBO is excellent at this) or on channels such as A&E or the History Channel.  And hey, I never would've become interested in cooking, which I just didn't do in my married life or while raising my poor little ravioli-out-of-the-can son, had it not been for the Food Network.  Thanks to Rachel Ray, Paula Dean and The Barefoot Contessa (plus retired, unstressed days and rested body), I now have started a like affair with the activity.

That said, let's get back to the real subject of this post, which is television commercials.  Most stink and are annoyingly too loud.  (Isn't some congressman/woman sponsoring some bill to outlaw that devious automatic volume-raising?)

I have to admit, I do sometimes get my daily quota of laughter from television commercials.  Others I think are either so touching (they really know how to manipulate us, don't they?) or clever, that I am impressed! ( A college sorority sister of mine wrote commercials for a living and ascended through the ranks way back when to head up Leo Burnett in Chicago.  She was always so creative and I really admired that.  Digression, digression....)

So here are a couple of my favorite commercials.  Have you seen them?


The Betty White Snickers Commercial




The Geico Pothole Commercial




and as acted out by a five year old:




I can just see my little granddaughter and grandson acting like these kids do....he watches and copies her and laughs at her "stuff."  :)  And sorry, they didn't offer a screen size small enough to entirely fit onto my blog with this commercial.....

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