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dr_phil_physicsOkay, this is seriously beautiful and hilarious and awful -- all at the same time: Everything You Hate About Advertising in One Fake Video That's Almost Too Real McSweeney's piece comes to life By Tim Nudd
You could watch this on TV with one ear half asleep and never know it was fake. And frankly, given its 2:49 length, I would almost rather see commercials like this than those irritating run-twice fifteen second quickies. It is also a frighteningly effective puff piece for the stock video house -- Look what we can do! Imagine what we can do for you with a REAL ad!
All the piece really needed was a discussion of selecting the right font for the message. (snicker)
Just the video is here.
Dr. Phil
Stock video provider Dissolve has taken the text of Kendra Eash's brilliant advertising takedown, "This Is a Generic Brand Video," originally published by McSweeney's, and set it to actual stock video clips.Even as you know you are being manipulated, the stock footage is so beautiful -- I love the Japanese bullet train speeding past Mount Fuji -- and the people so sincere and endearing. It's kind of like that advertising sausage-making reality show that was on this summer, AMC or A&E or someone like that, where two advertising houses would get the chance to make a bid on a major advertising contract. Except here, the presentation laptop doesn't fail.
The company explains: "The minute we saw Kendra Eash's brilliant 'This Is a Generic Brand Video' on McSweeney's, we knew it was our moral imperative to make that generic brand video so. No surprise, we had all the footage."
The results, narrated by Dallas McClain, are outstanding. You've seen all of this footage in ads from major brands. It's everywhere. And it's great that a stock video house would so gleefully celebrate the soul-sucking manipulations for which its offerings are generally used.
You could watch this on TV with one ear half asleep and never know it was fake. And frankly, given its 2:49 length, I would almost rather see commercials like this than those irritating run-twice fifteen second quickies. It is also a frighteningly effective puff piece for the stock video house -- Look what we can do! Imagine what we can do for you with a REAL ad!
All the piece really needed was a discussion of selecting the right font for the message. (snicker)
Just the video is here.
Dr. Phil
