X Factor and the Advertising Monster
As I write, my fridge is full of yoghurt: there is, in fact, an entire shelf devoted to it. Each day I sit at my desk in the office, scrolling though my Twitter timeline and eating yoghurt. Itâs a fairly recent habit; I donât have any overly strong feelings about yoghurt and having a fridge full of the stuff is a new experience for me. At first, I maintained this new-found obsession had developed due to a number of factors, namely that (a) itâs always on offer and therefore it would be foolish not to buy loads and (b) it stops me buying other, more-fattening treats instead. Without my trusty pots of bacterially fermented milk, who knows how much Ben & Jerryâs Iâd be getting through? If it werenât for Yeo Valley, I could easily fall off the wagon and resume my Nutella Hobnob habit (literally a Hobnob dipped in Nutella â impossibly tasty but dangerously addictive and responsible for my gaining a dress size in 2006). So buying all this yoghurt was definitely a really good idea, Iâm so smart. Well done me.
The thing is, itâs bullshit. I know this now. The reason there is no room for non-dairy products in my fridge is because I watch X Factor, which inexplicably devotes a large chunk of its ÂŁ8,000 per second advertising space to â yes, you guessed it â yoghurt. I am a slave to consumerism and, while I make no apologies for being thus afflicted, I am ashamed it took me so long to realise I was being manipulated.
Advertising is A Big Deal. Itâs impossible to get away from and, like it or not, it informs many different areas of our lives: where we shop and what we buy is just the tip of the iceberg. For many people, Christmas officially âstartsâ when the Coca Cola trucks grace their TV screen (I understand, but would appreciate one year not having to read a million and one irritating Facebook updates all making the same point) and simply observing the Twitter storm that followed the debut of the John Lewis Christmas advert gave an indication of just how much adverts have become an important part of our culture. While Iâm sure many would disagree with my sentiment (for those people, I highly recommend reading Charlie Brookerâs recent article on the subject), I donât see this as a bad thing. Itâs true there is a lot of shit out there, and yes this is disappointing given the amount of money and talent that the industry possesses: surely a well-educated, successful industry insider would know that a disembodied female voice telling me to âhave a happy periodâ was only ever going to make me angry? And yet that slogan made it onto our screens. No, Always, I wonât. AND THEREâS NOTHING YOU AND YOUR MAGICAL FANNY PADS CAN DO ABOUT IT. But despite the multitudinous atrocities we bear witness to every day, thereâs no reason why an advert canât be a showcase for the work of a brilliant creative team. Here are my favourite campaigns du jour, which demonstrate just that.
Basically, I love this. It has comedy, pathos, a silky smooth-voiced leading man and the âobjects turning into Skittlesâ bits are really well done. While researching this I discovered this advert first appeared four years ago â perhaps this shows a certain degree of laziness on their part, but I donât really give one: it makes me laugh every time I see it, and Iâm glad itâs been resurrected.
Mutley makes an appearance in this once, which is enough to catapult it straight into this list regardless of whatâs going on the rest of time. Fortunately, the other 85 seconds are filled with excellent animation and bright colours, and at the end they all have an awesome party underneath a rainbow. And whaddya know, itâs for yoghurt! How about that.
This one made the list largely because itâs an excellent example of how a well-chosen soundtrack can make all the difference. Plus, the styling is excellent and that girl has really great hair.
4)Â Â Â Â Â American Music Awards on Viva
Sadly I couldnât find a link to this one, which is a shame because this probably wonât have as much impact unless youâve seen it already or are willing to sit in front of Viva until you do (personally I spend a lot of time watching Viva anyway, theyâre always showing that Gaga vs Beyonce vs Riri video stream which is pretty much a perfect night in). Anyway, the advert in question pays homage to my favourite dramatic music video clichĂŠ: rain. Weâre treated to an excellent montage of soaking wet musicians with various degrees of pout as Peter Dickson, Voiceover Man, gleefully categorises them â âSexy rain! Electrical rain! Thereâs a bucket just out of shot rain!â My only gripe is that it doesnât feature Stronger by Britney Spears, clearly the best âpopstar dances in inexplicable shower looking better than any normal person could ever hope to when caught without a brollyâ moment since Take Thatâs Back For Good (Markâs floopy car antics at 3:37 are truly something special). Yes, itâs a good advert, nice one Viva.
THIS IS AMAZING. Itâs topical! And funny! And liable to spark uninformed debates by humourless people online! In truth, I donât usually need any extra motivation to go to Nandoâs but this would do it. I want to eat half a chicken in Piri Piri sauce and I want to eat it NOW.