The Ladders only wants the worst monsters

Here's a new commercial from Fallon Minneapolis for premium job-search site The Ladders, showing a bunch of small-fry monsters trying (and failing) to wreak havoc on a cityscape and instill fear in its populace. "If you think about it," says the voiceover, "this is what makes The Ladders different from other job-search sites. We only work with the big talent." The site evidently only deals with executives who make $100,000 or more—personified in the spot by a suitably devastating Japanese creature. It's a nice twist on the usual Godzilla ad theme, with the added bonus of seamless dressing down Monster.com and its ilk.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Filed under Fallon, Japanese monsters, Job sites, Ladders, Nudd
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New ad likens McCain to Japanese monster

The left-leaning Service Employees International Union demonizes—well, monster-izes, actually—buyout firms that receive sweet tax breaks, in a new spot that uses Japanese monster-movie footage. The skyline-smashing creatures are likened to John McCain, who probably views the comparison as a compliment. Most media reports identify the saurians in the spot as multiple Godzillas. However, anyone who wasted their youth watching The 4:30 Movie on Channel 7 in New York—and geeks and kaiju fans the world over—will recognize the scaly beasts as the cheap Big-G knockoffs from 1967’s Gappa, the Triphibian Monster. In the film, they weren’t evil monsters. They became enraged and bent on destroying civilization only after being misunderstood by mankind. Just like John McCain. UPDATE: Dennis Kucinich, by the way, is the Gamera the Giant Flying Turtle of the political scene: well intentioned, but forever fated to retreat back inside his shell.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under Gianatasio, Japanese monsters
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Godzilla can’t say no to advertising jobs

“He picks up a bus and he throws it back down/As he wades through the buildings toward the center of town/Oh no, there goes Tokyo!/Go, go Godzilla, yeah!” When I was 10, I thought that song was cool. OK, I still do. I would stomp around the living room, pretending to be Godzilla. OK, I still do. What I’m getting at is Reactrix Systems has developed a shopping-mall “Crush the Rainbow” video game for Skittles that, according to the press release, “actually brings the consumer into the game by encouraging teens and young adults to act as if they are Godzilla facing a crowded street corner and responsible for crushing different aspects of the scene.” Damn, I was going to act that way at the office holiday party; now I’ll just have to dress like an elf, like I do every other day of the year. Godzilla and Skittles? It’s almost as obvious a combination as Godzilla and Yellow Tail wine.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under Japanese monsters
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Aussie wine fan Godzilla is a nasty drunk

Here’s some vintage Godzilla footage, complete with bad dubbing and that awesome monster roar and Akira Ifukube score, as the surly saurian destroys a Japanese temple and shills for Yellow Tail wines. The creature’s big scaly tail turns bright yellow as he shambles across the countryside. This seems to imply he’s on an especially bad bender. Who knew you could get this stoned from Yellow Tail chardonnay? Cramer-Krasselt/Hampel Stefanides in New York fashioned the spot. Also, here’s “Bambi Meets Godzilla,” still cool after all these years. And speaking of green monsters, Toyota is airing a new spot featuring “time-lapse photography of the creation of a Prius made from natural elements of the earth.” Coming soon: “Godzilla vs. Swamp Prius!”

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under Cramer-Krasselt, Japanese monsters
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