Ozzy phones it in again in new Samsung ad
Ozzy Osbourne. A chimpanzee. Which one never evolved? That question popped into my head as I watched the chimp invite the corpselike Ozzy to join his band in this commercial for Samsung's Solstice phone. If you thought Leo Burnett's earlier Samsung spots with Ozzy were soul-crushing, check out this iteration. Does Ozzy mumble incoherently? Are his "expletives" bleeped out? Do he and the chimp make goofy faces? Lord have mercy, it's all in there! Come to think of it, since every word Ozzy says is impossible to understand, his profanity would also be incomprehensible. Why bleep him at all? Eons ago, when Ozzy was a heavy-metal god, some folks worried that his music would rot people's brains. His music won't, but this campaign will! And hey, wasn't there a movement to ban the use of great apes in commercials? Can we add Ozzy to the list of creatures that should never be used in ads again? |
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Published on August 6, 2009 | Permalink
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Samsung creatures scuffle on N310 laptops
When Samsung last ventured into the realm of Web video, Welsh sheep in LED vests were involved. The result was "an Internet sensation," according to my AdFreak colleague Dave Kiefaber, who knows a bit too much about the Internet and sheep for my liking. Which brings us to Samsung's latest effort for its N310 mini notebook. At a Samsung trade show booth where the units are on display, male and female Gumby-type characters spring to life (I think they're supposed to be holograms) and battle in a bloodless imitation of Itchy and Scratchy. It's gotten nearly 200,000 views on YouTube in less than a week, and it certainly held my attention. But I'm not sure what it's trying to say about the product. And as for it being another "Internet sensation" ... baaaaaaaah! —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on May 27, 2009 | Permalink
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Oh, Jesus Christ, another pathetic scam ad!
The plague of scam ads will likely never quite leave the award-show circuit. Still, some take the cake. The Dubai Lynx, a Middle East offshoot from the folks who run Cannes, is dealing with a mini-scandal after a Qatar shop called FP7 won awards for a print ad depicting Jesus taking a picture of a group of nuns. The ad was supposedly for Samsung, which was none too amused when it found out it was using the Son of God to hawk cameras. (Samsung does use sheep in ads, just not, apparently, shepherds.) This will cause the usual hand-wringing about how festivals fail to do the bare minimum to determine if an ad actually ran anywhere. The more interesting question, for me at least, is what other products the industry can get Jesus to endorse. Via AdPulp. |
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Published on April 2, 2009 | Permalink
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Samsung taking liberties with Welsh sheep
Hey, Wales got the Internet! About time. And they're already responsible for an Internet Sensation involving the only thing I've ever associated with Wales: sheep. Specifically, Welsh national sheep-herding champion Gerry Lewis was recruited to help a group of filmmakers with a video in which sheep in LED vests are "herded into astonishing shapes on a mountainside." The shapes include a giant sheep, a game of Pong, and the Mona Lisa. The video was made in celebration of, and using, Samsung's various LED products, which are also available in Wales now. For a first effort, this is pretty cool. In time, they'll reach Eagle Man levels of weird, for sure. —Posted by David Kiefaber |
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Published on March 27, 2009 | Permalink
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Ozzy Osbourne still somehow gets ad work
Ozzy Osbourne turns up in this new Samsung Propel campaign from Leo Burnett, and what a surprise: the big joke is that no one can understand him because he mumbles. It's like a flashback to 2002, when his reality show was popular—but then Ozzy probably has flashbacks that go back a lot further than that. So, he uses the phone's multicolored text messaging to make himself understood. It's tough to buy Ozzy texting. Even if his hands stopped shaking long enough, you know his spelling would be atrocious. Most important, the Oz Man is one of those pop-culture figures who doesn't need to speak a word, via digital technology or otherwise. There's no looking away when he's on screen, regardless of the anemic material, so I guess these spots succeed in spite of themselves. Here's Ozzy with Black Sabbath live on U.S. TV back in 1975, when he really had something to say. |
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Published on November 11, 2008 | Permalink
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