“Kiss me I’m Irish!”
Has the human race jumped the shark? Talk about a Mondo couple of days. Where to begin? Was anything more sadly horrific than watching Donald Sterling dig himself into the abyss like he did on CNN with Anderson Cooper? The clip is from Funny or Die but honestly you don’t need their overlay to be blown away. Unreal watching this decrepit bozo. He found a way to make matters worse for himself than they already are. Sterling whines: “What has Magic Johnson done to help minorities?” Geez, old man, what hasn’t he done? Later in the taping he starts blubbering because his skeevy, half-century younger-than-he-is girlfriend betrayed him. Oh, the humanity! Then the ultimate out-of-touch moment, he asks Anderson Cooper “have you ever liked a girl?” I would have laughed had my jaw not already been on the floor.
Regarding homosexual behavior, how about that videotape of Michael Sam smooching his boyfriend upon finding out he was drafted by the St. Louis Rams?
Beef Cake
It’s a personal moment that suddenly became a national spectacle after ESPN got through with it. You would have thought he’d stuck a knife in the guy the way the network reacted. And what about the rest of us? Get a load of this ninny on a local Dallas talk show.. She’s beside herself with… Rage? Disgust? God forbid two people are happy and in love.
Speaking of rage what are we to make of that now-infamous elevator clip of Beyoncé’s less famous sister, Solange going off on Jay Z?
No lovin’ in an elevator…
This, too, would be sadly horrific if it weren’t so random and weird. The security camera’s silent black and white coverage gives the whole thing a creepy found footage vibe. A squabble after a long night of partying is nothing special. Unless, of course, you’re Jay Z, Beyoncé and Solange. Watching it I actually felt sorry for these people. Perhaps the strangest part was observing Beyoncé do absolutely nothing. Regardless, soon enough the video becomes interminable. One begins to feel like a voyeur and, I should qualify, not in a good way. Again, it’s a personal moment made spectacle. And the aftermath is just beginning. Inquiring minds want to know!
In 2013, the word of the year was “selfie.” A good call. Nothing codifies our collective narcissism like a selfie. That same year, Miley Cyrus blew up the water cooler by twerking and tonguing her way into adulthood. So last year! Shit’s about as old as Dennis Rodman playing ping-pong with the dictator of North Korea. Yawn.
“You bitches all look alike.”
2014 isn’t even half over and it’s off the chain.
I will give our culture this much. It is truly united. Old, young, white, black, gay, we are all skittles in the bag -the extreme sour kind!- waiting to be devoured by the Jaws of Modern Life. Society is on an epic sugar high. Taste the f—king rainbow!
No offense Beyonce but your DirecTV spot has managed to make even you hard to look at. Yes, you’re smoking hot. Yes, you’re talented. Yes, you’re a big time celebrity. But with the “Upgrade U” commercial, you’re flirting with becoming almost as reviled as Toyota’s “Saved by Zero.” Ouch.
Is it the jingle? Not being a fan (sorry, babe), I didn’t even know “Upgrade U” was a song from your catalog. The MTV-like credits superimposed at the commercial’s front implied as much. Either way, it’s annoying. Besides, wasn’t “Upgrade U” a DirecTV campaign last year? Enough already.
But the most troubling aspect of this spot is its fetish with gold and glitz. There’s more bling in this commercial than in the Scarface Special Edition DVD. Mired in a recession as we are, is it really appropriate for you, a rich celebrity, to be rolling around on a pile of gold jewelry? Is getting a better deal on cable really all that?
Yet, the reason I’m questioning this spot so much is because I’ve got a hunch it’s been hugely successful. Why else would DirecTV be rerunning it… and so much? Assuming the Beyonce campaign is delivering customers for its client, we are left with the highly subjective matter of opinion. Do people like this commercial? Does the agency. Do the clients?
The two criteria we use for evaluating creative at my shop are 1) pride of ownership (by agency & client) and 2) results. By that measure, the spot scores with sales results but falters on its lack of…what -Class? Integrity?
I’m sure the agency and its clients love this commercial. Or, more to the point, they adore Beyonce. I can just imagine the creative team, and a drunken suit, backstage at her show in Hollywood. What’s not to like, right? Well, for starters, this commercial. It’s stupid. Or should I say, in the parlance of hip-hop: stoopid.
The Happy Soul Industry
The Last Generation
Gods of Advertising 