BMW’s screaming boy makes viewers nuts
A friend of mine hates this BMW spot so much that he flips the channel when it comes on. It’s the ad with the home-movie footage of a boy screaming his head off on Christmas morning. It is pretty grating. Some people, given the chance, would exact their revenge on the boy, Frosties-kid style. One YouTube commenter writes: “I want to dip him in gas and set him on fire.” Luckily, this home movie seems to be pretty old, and the kid is probably big enough now to defend himself. |
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December 19, 2006 | Permalink |
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This reminds me of this littel a**.
http://youtube.com/verify_age?next_url=/watch%3Fv%3DT7FZnV-joeA
Have fun by hating this kid
Posted by: Kibitz | Dec 19, 2006 11:03:53 AM
Here's the "original" http://youtube.com/watch?v=RgTaK1h-5Gc
Mt first reaction to the BMW ad was, "hey, they changed the box!"
Posted by: hal | Dec 19, 2006 12:10:59 PM
This is a truly awful spot. (And ineffective -- I kept thinking it was for Mercedes.) It seems to be saying: Remember the good old days? Before Ritalin?
I do think that Ritalin is prescribed to too many school-age children, but I also believe that every single available dose of that drug should be administered to the child in this ad. All at once.
Posted by: Drew W | Dec 19, 2006 12:23:36 PM
Whenever I see this clip, I can just imagine the parents in the background egging the kid on. His reaction just seems so unnatural at times.
Posted by: Cory O'Brien | Dec 19, 2006 12:48:43 PM
Forget BMW, this is a more effective ad for condoms.
Posted by: Todd | Dec 19, 2006 1:29:09 PM
The screaming kid is the inevitable result of the adbiz-fueled hype that juices the whole season. I just hope the little guy grows out of it.
Posted by: H. Marcuse | Dec 19, 2006 3:45:58 PM
His little sister in the back irks me even more, she's just imitating him. Argh...
Posted by: Ben | Dec 19, 2006 3:47:38 PM
These must be Howard Dean's kids.
Posted by: | Dec 19, 2006 4:39:01 PM
I wouldn't call it innefective. It's a lot cooler than plenty of "sophisticated" crap other brands are doing.
Posted by: Jerry | Dec 19, 2006 4:41:14 PM
Ha you all must have had sad childhoods to be so cynical. True, connecting an excited child to a BMW is a bit lame and tired, and I suppose kids these days just don't get excited about anything, but that kid cracks me up. I remember being that excited when I got exactly what I wanted - steve austin action figure, anyone? Of course, i remember being put on Ritalin about 10 years later, but whatever.
Posted by: FrumpyFrank | Dec 19, 2006 6:17:12 PM
I'm with Todd. But it makes a better vodka ad. Now you kids know why daddy drinks.
Posted by: makethelogobigger | Dec 19, 2006 7:55:57 PM
The kid is a major internet meme in the gaming community. He really got a Nintendo 64.
I was stunned by this ad, largely because I was expecting anything but a BMW to show up by the end of the commercial. Also, it is just plain obnoxious.
Posted by: David Stone | Dec 19, 2006 11:16:25 PM
Jerry, are you serious? Cool in what way? All you have to do is give me one reason, just one.
I mean, the whole point of the ad is to take you back to the good old days of when you were a kid and got "what you wished for." But what it's actually doing is bugging the hell out of everyone in the target that is watching it. It induces annoyance, frustration and eventually ends with you scrambling for the remote "wishing" to change the channel.
Aligning your product with spoiled screaming kids is not a strategy for a luxury brand that I can believe is selling many cars.
So again, how exactly is this "cool"?
...and no, I'm not a bitter guy that didn't get Nintendo for Christmas one year. I'm an account director that cannot stand when ads like this give our industry a bad name.
Posted by: koom | Dec 20, 2006 9:40:18 AM
Ditto the Volvo campaign this year.
To quote the late great W.C.Fields...anyone who hates kids and dogs can't be all bad.
Posted by: Prophet | Dec 20, 2006 10:29:48 AM
Bless you. That ad sends me groping for the remote, too. God... I guess it's funny the first time.
Posted by: Princess Sparkle Pony | Dec 20, 2006 12:17:10 PM
RE: previous post, "Aligning your product with spoiled screaming kids is not a strategy for a luxury brand that I can believe is selling many cars."
Ah, but if their driving abilities and general sense of entitlement on the road is any measure, BMW drivers ARE those spoiled screaming kids, supposedly all grown up.
Annoying ad, but maybe a perfect personality match.
Posted by: BreakMyWindow | Dec 20, 2006 2:21:08 PM
Finally, I found kindred spirits. I despise this kid so much I want to go out and smack the first kid I see, yelling "it is NOT ok to shriek like that unless you are being a$$ raped in prison!"
Which I hope is what is happening to this kid now.
Posted by: Finally | Dec 20, 2006 6:13:27 PM
I mute the TV every time this ad appears. Ever try to endure it at 6 a.m.? I swear it has eroded my opinion of the brand.
Posted by: Robin | Dec 21, 2006 1:27:20 AM
"Jerry, are you serious? Cool in what way? All you have to do is give me one reason, just one."
---It's different, it breaks through the clutter, it's realistic.
"But what it's actually doing is bugging the hell out of everyone in the target that is watching it. It induces annoyance,"
---Most ads are annoying after you've watched them a few times. As for bugging everyone in the target, we'll just have to look at the sales to see if that's true.
"Aligning your product with spoiled screaming kids is not a strategy for a luxury brand that I can believe is selling many cars. So again, how exactly is this "cool"? ...and no, I'm not a bitter guy that didn't get Nintendo for Christmas one year. I'm an account director that cannot stand when ads like this give our industry a bad name."
---You know, that attitude is so typical. Every time something is a little different, account people (and creative people) like you piss on it. And all in the name of the precious strategy.
And then Crispin Porter or whoever does something great or weird, wins an award, and we get all jealous about it.
Maybe a luxury brand like BMW can afford to take risks. Maybe they want to make commercials that are noticed and remembered and talked about, instead of being ignored like 99% of car ads. Maybe they are so cool that once in a while they can experiment with a completely off the wall commercial.
I wish all our clients could be like that.
Posted by: Jerry | Dec 21, 2006 11:29:45 AM
This is one of the most annoying commercials of all time. How BMW would expect this to boost their sales is really beyond me. I also can't believe that Will Lyman would lend his voice to anything this crass. It has definitely lowered my opinion of the company, and sorry to say, whenever I hear Will Lyman from now on in one of his many voiceovers on PBS, the only thing I will be thinking of is this horrendous commercial.
Posted by: Stacy | Dec 26, 2006 6:14:04 PM
the voice over now plays over most of the annoying screaming, with just the fist pump at the end remaining - still annoying. the ad exec should be fired
Posted by: burlyguy | Dec 26, 2006 8:13:20 PM
This ad is so annoying that I will purposely never buy a BMW!
Posted by: Juls | Dec 28, 2006 11:45:02 AM
That child should have been beaten brutally about the head with one of those clubs they use upon baby seals, until nothing but a pulpy "mash" remained. Yadda yadda yadda.
Seriously, the ad campaign is bizarre. I find it difficult to believe that the whole thing was not "staged" by BMW to "look like" some ad-exec's hazy and WAY exaggerated memory of how kids can get excited about a Christmas gift. That child was not "excited," he was demonic. At the very least, any child who carried on like that about anything (short of being flayed alive) should be hosed-down with ice water. The parents...investigated.
This makes me, as a BMW owner, question the company's grasp of what its clients might potentially find "engaging." Weird, weird, even *creepy* ad. Psychotic Rabies-Afflicted Sociopath Child "sells" a luxury car? Don't think so.
Posted by: Yo | Dec 29, 2006 11:39:10 PM
To add weirdness to weirdness, the voiceover is the doomsday voice of the narrator of "Frontline".
Posted by: Ken | Dec 30, 2006 12:57:27 AM
I cannot get to the MUTE button fast enough to shut the little screamer up. Another example of BMW bring up the rear (wheel drive).
Posted by: Paul | Dec 30, 2006 2:48:00 PM
