[Jim Moonan]

Commercial advertising elevated to art form. Is there such a thing? Get your head out of the sand. Here's two minutes' worth:

https://youtu.be/hjKd24UCPYY

[Jim Moonan]

Well.... my point is I would like it if all things were considered art and approached with an artistic eye.

To me, this little ditty was fantasy poetry.

[Ann Drysdale]

I'm so sorry, Jim. The cynic in me objected to the implication that following the company message would enable an ostrich to fly and the human in me worried about the bird in the glasses - was it angry or afraid? While understanding that this was probably an illusion created by CGI, it was still "done unto" the bird by the Samsung creatives.

I am not the best person to comment on this - in fact I wouldn't have said anything if you hadn't been left dangling on the end of your thread - but I always feel manipulated by the art in these productions. I can feel the brainstorm and smell the corporate coffee. I am not proud of this, aware that something is missing in my head.

[Mark McDonnell]

Hmm. I have to agree with Ann. The more advertising attempts to be 'artistic' the more it sticks in my craw. There are a series of McDonald's ads on British TV that are filmed like mini heartwarming British social realist dramas. They make me feel physically sick. Give me a gaudy salesman shouting at me telling me to buy stuff anytime.

[Jim Moonan]

Ann: “The cynic in me objected to the implication that following the company message would enable an ostrich to fly and the human in me worried about the bird in the glasses - was it angry or afraid?”

Interesting, I had given your perspective a flash thought but moved beyond it. Certainly looking at it in the way you do causes me to see it through a very different lense. (Now that I’m thinking, I can also see it as a metaphor for the harming affects of technology on the human race. But I see, too, what you are saying.)

Some thoughts:

• Putting aside the fact that this is just a corporate message dressed up in sheep’s clothing, it seemed obvious to me that this was intended to be a big metaphor, a fairytale of sorts. The theme is “do what you can’t”. It’s an odd thought.
  
• I’m de-flowered (once again). It happens all the time. The Innocent (don’t call it ignorant) in me wants to see beyond – not through – the facade. I know quite well that innocence is often just ignorance and experience is so often disheartening. Knowledge on the other hand, will set you free. And freedom to dream.
  
• Would we think the same of Dickens (or Tolstoy or D.H. Lawrence) if we knew he had beaten his wife? (He did not, by almost all accounts). Are we best off to not know some things? Can we ever know everything?
  
• Your response reminds me of that response that some have to Disney. I guard against thinking that Disney films are misogynistic or tainted with racial or ethnic innuendo or riddled with hidden pictures of nakedness. On the other hand, I don’t like Disney films (or the whole Disney shtick for that matter) that much for the same reason I don’t like fast food.
  
• Ann, Do you ever chastise the cynic in you for being so cynical? Of course, you’re largely right about the methods of marketers to sucker us in. I assure you I never buy Samsung unless there is a good sale going on.
  
• What is cynicism? Maybe an illness of optimism? Or is it optimism’s antidote? What is the difference between cynicism and questioning?
  
• Perhaps, just maybe, nestled within the group of Samsung creatives is a poet, a visionary, who was able to perform some alchemic rendering by connecting corporate pabulum with imagination. A storyteller. He or she goes home at night thinking, “Why do I work for these schmucks?” but has to work to pay the bills.

Mark: “There are a series of McDonald's ads on British TV that are filmed like mini heartwarming British social realist dramas. They make me feel physically sick. Give me a gaudy salesman shouting at me telling me to buy stuff anytime.”

The MacDonald's ads sound like bad art to me. Not surprising.
When the pitchman barks his pitch and tells me to “Hurry! Time’s running out” and that I’d be a moron if I didn’t jump on the offer, I feel insulted by that. Much more so than I do the ostrich who may or may not be scared. That kind of gaudy capitalism that thinks we can be duped into buying is the worst kind of advertising.

I want advertising to show it’s artful side -- though not all attempts succeed. I would, on the other hand, be turned off if I found out that the ostriches were in any way mistreated during the filming of the commercial. But corporate messaging? I judge that on an individual basis.

I do like commercial art, whether it be TV ads, newspaper, magazine, online, billboard ads or whatever. When it’s done well it’s hybrid art. A bridge between the mundane and the sublime. I prefer to stay on the sublime side of the bridge, but spend most of my waking hours on the mundane side.

My mantra (though I have no real mantra) is: Think like a child, be ready for correction.

Thanks for the correction. This is a grown up, literate and adroit forum and I posted the wrong topic for it.

(Disclaimer: It was past my bedtime. When the commercial played I wasn’t paying any attention which is what I typically do during commercial breaks. My lovely wife had said to me, “Did you see that commercial? Rewind that.” and so, because I adore my wife, I obeyed and saw it as a sweet story of the age-old “I Think I Can” theme. But why I thought it would be a good thing to post here? Now that’s the real question… It was past my bedtime.)

[Mark McDonnell]

Hey Jim,

It's not the 'wrong' topic. I think General Talk is where we're allowed to be a little less high-flown isn't it? I just happen to disagree with you.

Originally Posted by Jim Moonan

The MacDonald's ads sound like bad art to me. Not surprising.
When the pitchman barks his pitch and tells me to “Hurry! Time’s running out” and that I’d be a moron if I didn’t jump on the offer, I feel insulted by that. Much more so than I do the ostrich who may or may not be scared. That kind of gaudy capitalism that thinks we can be duped into buying is the worst kind of advertising.

This for instance. I think the 'gaudy capitalist' ads are the 'best' kind of advertising, in the sense that at least they're honest in their dishonesty. They're obvious hucksterism. I'm far more insulted by the kind of bank adverts that look like two minute art movies. They're an insult to art, however well made.

Here's the link to McDonald's latest British ad: well made, understated, nicely acted and utterly nauseating in its exploitation of grief to flog burgers.

https://youtu.be/S1XM4INk8l8

[Ann Drysdale]

No, Jim, not wrong at all. I should point out that I don't have TV so I only see ads when someone says - "look at this", so I don't have the buffering factor of seeing lots of them and learning to screen them out. Thank you for taking so much time and effort to feed my head with questions and thoughts. I appreciate that and will give them plenty of thought of my own.

Mark, I've just seen the McDonald's one and can't believe how creepy I found it.

Now for some cogitation...

[Jim Moonan]

Well, wrong topic in the sense of who makes up the Sphere. It garnered no interest until I claimed mea culpa. But that's besides the point.

I am breezily indifferent as to whether or not these (McDonalds or Samsung ads) are commercial art or in fact if there is even such a thing as commercial art. So why would I suggest otherwise by starting a thread that belabors it??? I refer you to Marilyn…

I can’t for the life of me understand why anyone pays to advertise. I just don't think advertising has much if any effect on my buying decisions. Apparently it does on others.

Commercials that make no attempt to present their product in an attractive, interesting way are artistically worthless. But I do find the huckster dishonest honesty approach interesting in their own right for their guile (or utter lack thereof) but their hyperbolic messaging is a total turn off. Literally. I turn the channel. Click click click…

What if I told you that the McDonalds commercial is based on a true story? Seriously, what are the odds? It’s not. I’m sure even without looking. But here’s the thing: If I were able to turn over every stone – every one of them – and find out that in fact this commercial is a true representation of a real life situation – then what? OK, it would still be creepy.

However, just for the sake of discussion (I never do anything for the sake of argument) the scenario painted in the McDonald’s scene is the nut of a classic literary theme: a broken family, a disapproving mother (btw, the mother in this commercial is horrendous – without a shred of understanding or an ounce of parental intelligence), a boy searching for his identity… And then comes the Almighty Product Placement -- now THAT is commercial art, though I can understand how some think it nothing more than creepy. I don’t stretch it to be anything more than a one-minute mirage-like interlude between two longer segments of mind-numbing TV. Opiate for the masses is what I think it has been coined.

The Micky D commercial is incredible. It has absolutely no connection to the product being sold. Am I to believe that it has some unconscious affect on my mind that will steer me into the golden arched gates next time I'm hungry? (I haven't eaten at a McDonalds since my Dad died, incidentally. He loved McDonalds). It most definitely does not. But the plot and acting and scene scripting are artfully done.

But here’s what I think: commercials that just blare out the predictable pabulum and make no attempt to capture your interest other than notching up the decibels are akin to cheap drugstore novels. They don’t win awards for creativity or artist excellence (CLIO Awards). for good reason. They are the antithesis of creative arts. I don’t necessarily need a commercial to be artfully done, but I appreciate the effort. Did you ever see the Dos Equis commercials, “The Most Interesting Man In The World”? Very entertaining. For 1 minute.

Here’s a wild, reckless thought: what would a poem of yours look like “commercialized”? What if someone with a perfect voice – a James Earl Jones or Sarah Bernhardt – read a poem of yours and a commercial artist tied it to a product with visuals of -- whatever. What would you think? Would you even give permission? For a boatload of money? Wild reckless thought.

So much more to discuss. But then again, sometimes it's not what's being discussed but who's discussing it.

[Ann Drysdale]

Well, then, let us be the discussers.

I didn't say anything at first because I caught wind of your own (Marilyn's) delight in the ad you linked to and was actually a little ashamed of my own antipathy to it. I've been thinking a lot about that since. Thank you.

May I bring someone else into this discussion? My friend Jo recently had the very experience you refer to in your "wild, reckless thought". She got a bit of stick for doing this from some people who felt she'd sold her poetic soul to the devil by getting involved and here's what she said about it:

https://belljarblog.wordpress.com/2017/01/28/5667/

(Pity about the music...)

[William A. Baurle]

Jim,

I just watched the commercial.

I thought it was great. And you're right, it is advertising raised to a whole new artistic level. And they picked a great song to go along with it.

And just on a side note, there's nothing wrong with corporations in and of themselves. There are good corporations and corrupt ones. By and large, our lives have been greatly improved by virtue of the existence of big business, and big corporations. I don't know about anyone else, but I rather like supermarkets, phones, appliances, and computers.

I also like MacDonalds, though not as much as Jack-in-the-Box, or Carl's Junior. In fact, all this talk about it has made me hungry for a big hamburger and fries. Now, where Oh where will I go? All these choices! I'm so oppressed!