Similarities between "The Tourist" 30 second promo starring Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, and "Everybody Loves Raymond" Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton.

Maybe I've watched too many reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond, but when I saw this 30 second promo for The Tourist, I started to see images of Ray Romano and Patricia Heaton from Everybody Loves Raymond inserted over all of the shots of Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie.

Before you laugh and call me a nerd, I just want to point something out. The biggest difference between actors like Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, and actors like Ray Romano and Patricia Heaton, (besides dynamite abs) is that Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie have to brandish a gun or some other lethal weapon, whereas actors like Ray Romano and Patricia Heaton have to actually use dialogue, and non lethal weapons, to make their point...

...and to get and keep the audience's attention.

Have you ever seen a movie trailer promo for what is considered an "A" movie star, I mean, ever, that did not show them either holding a gun, or fleeing from someone else who was shooting at them?

So imagine as you rewatch The Tourist Trailer, that Ray Romano is Johnny Depp, and Patricia Heaton is Angelina Jolie, and everytime there is a villain about to off them, it's actually Ray's parents from the show, and the weapon of choice is, spaghetti with delicious, BLEEDING, STEAMING, RED tomato sauce smothered on top.

And also imagine that Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, and The Tourist represent Wall Street, and that Ray Romano, Partricia Heaton, and Everybody Loves Raymond represent Main Street.

And now, watch a few clips from Everybody Loves Raymond.

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Folgers New coffee commercial about son coming back from war once again crosses a line.

(Edit update: Dec. 26, 2010 - (9:10 pm) I was watching the Undercover boss episode of GSI Commerce with Michael Rubin when the Folgers Christmas Commercial with the brother and sister came on. Something about it was different. I had just seen it on 60 minutes and it seemed like the version below.

However, this Folgers version seemed different. Either it was a 15 second Folgers commercial version, or the commercial had been re-edited. I think they took out the smutty and longful looks between the brother and sister, and I think a voiceover was added at the front of the video saying "we", to imply the family missed their son/brother. I wIll have to watch out for this Folgers version that seemed different to me than the version below.)

I don't know what it is about Folgers attempts to create sappy, tear jerking commercials, but for the second year in a row, their attempt leaves me feeling slightly creeped out.

This time around the returning son from war arrives home and has a gift for sis. Sis looks longingly at her brother and says, "having you back is my gift".

In my opinion, this folgers commercial is very sappy and sweet, but it also has just has a slightly unintended incestuous tone to it. (Edit Update Dec. 6, 2010, I just found the commercial on youtube and have added it up above. The comments are a hoot and many basically mirror what I am saying.)

I think I just figured out what, in my opinion, Folgers has done wrong. I gave the solution to the Folgers Engagement commercial. I won't reveal the solution this time because at some point, these ad agencies and or company reps should be earnestly turning over whatever potential opportunities are out there to help guide them out of the embarrassment of churning out these commercials that seem to create an unintended yuck factor mixed in with the sweet sappiness.

Folgers should separate out that the yuck factor from the sweet sappiness in their commercials, otherwise, at some point, we may begin to wonder if their product is any different from their commercials.

Edit Update Dec.6, 2010: I am not sure when this commercial was originally broadcast. On the youtube upload it says 2009 folgers Christmas commercial.

Edit Update Dec.8, 2010: Folgers held a contest to come up with a new musical intro for their commercials. The irony is, that's not the problem with their commercials.

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The Google Job Experiment

I bow to the master on this one, also known as

the six dollar job search!

Please Download the Chase Bank Protest Flyer for FREE, and then all that needs to be done is just give a few copies out, it is really that simple.

LeBron James "What Should I do", "The Decision" commercial by Nike, a year and a half TOO LATE.

Here is a clever take off on the LeBron James "What should I do" "The Decision" commercial by Ohio State team captain and very capable wide receiver Dane Sanzenbacher.

One of the basic reasons I HATE NIKE for their role in wooing LeBron James out of Cleveland is because they do things like "What Should I DO", a year and a half too late.

What would Cleveland Cavalier fans have thought if NIke's "What should I do" commercial starring LeBron James had come out after the 2008 season? Is it possible Lebron James gets traded for some top notch draft picks and right now the Cavs are still flying high towards a national championship? It's VERY POSSIBLE that could have happened.

It might have let Cleveland Cavalier fans know back then, that LeBron James already knew he was leaving after his last cavalier contract expired. If "What should I do" had come out after the 2008 season, LeBron James would have looked pretty selfish because the Cavaliers had the most wins during the 2008 regular season.

Many experts were certain, and correct, that the cavaliers would also win the most games during the 20009 season as well, and the cavaliers did that too.

Nike's "What should I do" commercial is sleazy, mistimed and intellectually defunct, albeit well made and a philosophically solid commercial that should have come out a year and half earlier to actually have any real integrity.

If you saw a firefighter standing in the foreground of a totally burned down and still smoldering building, and he looked into the camera and gave LeBron's speal of "What should I do", wouldn't you kind of shake your head and say its a bit too late to be asking that question now?

And in the case of the firefighter, the firefighter didn't even start the fire, whereas the same most certainly cannot be said about LeBron James.

When Lebron James asks "What should I do?" I ask, about what; your reputation? Nothing, because your reputation is shot.

When LeBron James asks, "What should I do? I ask, about what; "your narcissistic timing that asks the question a year and a half late, and a championship or two, too short?"

When LeBron James asks, "What should I do? I ask, about what; about respecting your roots, your home town, your family, your promise to bring a championship to Cleveland?

Lebron, take your talents to south beach, don't marry the woman of your children, and show Tiger Woods how its done.

To quote Spike Lee, "It's gotta be the shoes", because the head is as solid as a rock.

I've decided not to put the youtube video of LeBron James "What Should I do" commercial in this article because as a former Clevelander, Lebron James is dead to me, and you've probably seen the commerical already.

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Nature Walk, starring the photographer and the Energizer Bunny, the commercial that haunts me.

Many years ago, I saw a television real life story about an experienced hiker who mysteriously disappeared during a hiking expedition. Months later, his remains were found by his campsite.

When the investigators went through his campsite belongings, they found a film camera with film still inside the camera. The 35mm strip of film was developed and revealed nothing out of the ordinary until the final couple of shots, which showed a group of bears first assembling in the distance, then in the next shot, moving closer. The final shot is of this group of bears just 10 or 15 feet away taken by the hiker just moments before his demise.

I tried finding this story on the internet, but after an hour of searching using all of my google tricks, I have given up (I can cover a lot of ground searching for google leads in an hour and I just can't find anything).

I may have seen the story on Unsolved Mysteries, or perhaps it was NBC Dateline, but either way, I can't find the story, or those pictures, anywhere on the internet.

Whenever I see the Energizer "Nature Walk" battery commercial featuring the photographer who happens to luck into various animals posing so the photographer can take their picture, I think of that guy and his horrific demise at the hands of those bears.

Just sayin.

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A suggestion for Bud Selig, Major League Baseball, and the proposed two wild card team system for 2011, 2012.

Bud Selig claims to have thought of every wild card scenario for adding an extra wild card team.

In my opinion, a one game playoff would be a complete disrespect to the wild card team with the better record. There could be a situation where the team with the best wild card record is miles ahead of the other wild card team in wons and losses, and to have a one game playoff is not enough of a return for a wild card team having anywhere from the second to fourth best record in the league.

But having a three game playoff is asking too much, and still would be unfair to the team with the better record as now they would have to win two games just to advance into the first round of the playoffs. Remember, it is possible for a wild card team to have the second best record in the entire league, so to force them to win two more games against a team with a possibly inferior record would create a backlash.

Here's a concept that has never been done before. Make the wild card playoffs a two game playoff, and the wild card team with the better record gets both home games and only has to win once, and they get two chances for that one win.

On top of that, make the playoffs be the final two games of the season assuming the two wild card positions are settled by then. If a situation arises where a wild card team with a terrific won loss record loses two games in a row to the other wild card team, the chance for outrage over the double wild card system would be greatly reduced since the better team had two home games to get just one win.

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ABC Tuesday Night Prime Time Audio Broadcast Problem, Nov. 16, 2010?

I was watching No Ordinary Family and found myself putting the volume way up past where I ever put it just so I could hear the dialogue. Then when the first set of commercials came on, I almost hit the ceiling as they were literally 3 times as loud as the volume of the show.

I decided to wait for Dancing with the Stars to see if the audio issue continued. Sure enough, the audio to the show "Dancing with the Stars" this particular night (Nov. 16, 2010) is low, (although not as low as with No Ordinary People), but more importantly, the actual fidelity of the sound seems slightly muted and with less frequency and dynamic range.

The drive to computerize all aspects of television broadcasting appears to be coming with its own set of problems. I am watching on standard def so its possible the problem is happening downstream of the HD feed, but still, this sucks. Its like the bass and the high end have been sucked out of the broadcast sound. Yech.

Most people may not notice because these shows actually create such an excellent sound track to begin with that even when the transmission is botched the sound still may be acceptable to most people.

(Edit note, the following night, The Middle sounded fine, but the next show, the one with the canned laugh track, seemed to have the same problem as the prior night's line-up.)

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ITT Tech does an innovative thing and creates a Veterans Day commercial tribute.

Edit update, Dec. 03, 2010, I just found this rather disturbing review of ITT Tech, click here to read it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

It's 2010, can it be that difficult to create a one day commercial tribute to veterans? I don't know how many commercials advertisers actually bothered to create a one day commercial tribute to veterans, but ITT Tech did.

With the moving up of Black Friday to November, 12, 2010, it seems like a no brainer for advertisers to take a moment and also create a tribute video for our vets, but apparently, few did.

Please take a moment and read the article by Lynn Szymoniak ESQ, about the plight of many veterans coming back from service who are not getting a fair shake from the banking community regarding the foreclosure crises.

Honoring Veterans in Foreclosure

And next year, if you will be advertising for Black Friday, please take a moment and create a Veterans Day tribute commercial as well.

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Farmers Insurance Water Craft: Professor Burke, and All State use different styles, but a similar theme for their commercials.

My prior review of Allstate "Ghost Riders" could almost be reused for the Farmers Insurance Water Craft commercial below.

I don't hate the Farmers Insurance Water Craft:Professor Burke commercial. I probably would not change the channel if it came on. I find the old man picking up a young girl in a local bait shop (jail bait perhaps?) and then crashing his water boat into a tree with her on it, a provocative albeit sleazy message for an insurance company. Although I'm sure if I live to be his age I will change my tune.

I do wonder why the insurance agent didn't guess that it was grand dad taking his grand daughter for ride on the lake, I guess that's just less hip nowadays. Might have been funny actually. The salesmen guesses grand dad and grand daughter, and someone pats him on the head for being so naive.

What bothers me about the commercial is the message that having more coverage would somehow better protect the accident that occured. What about the bodily damage that most likely occurred to "dirty old dude and too young for him girl", and injuries that Farmers Insurance chose to pretend did not occur in their commercial?

That's actually irresponsible messaging from an insurance company.

Notice that neither dirty old dude, nor too young for him girl, have a cast, or crutches, or a neck brace? An accident that bad and the two come out relatively unscathed?

I understand the drive for insurance companies to be hip, energetic and "with it", so they can grab the attention of the I-Phone generation. But lets face reality, the moment insurance companies imply that insurance coverage "protects people by protecting their vehicles in bad accidents", they have strayed off the mark by ignoring the harsh reality that people get hurt real bad in those kind of accidents.

lol, I just got inspired with a bold idea for Farmers insurance, but that would only be shared after a consulting fee, I can't give everything away for free. In case anyone is wondering, the actor playing Dr. Burke is J.K. Simmons, and you can see his acting resume here.

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Exclusive viewpoint, Why Proposition 19, the Marijuana proposition, lost in California and probably will lose in the future as well.

There is a foundational reason why Proposition 19, the California marijuana initiative, lost, and will probably lose in the future, but its probably not what you think.

Deep down in the hearts of Californians is a very real fear that the day may come when people who are already receiving any of the following, disability payments, pension benefits, unemployment benefits, and so on, may also be some of the same people lighting up a doobie.

Living the dream for some may be nothing more than hanging out, doping up, and being paid to do so. By "some", it may only be 10% of the population, maybe somewhat less, but that's still too many.

Proposition 19 may actually induce people to TRY and get some kind of state or federal benefit so they can just sort of hang around, dope it up, and tune out. On a personal level, yeah, it would irk me no end to know that some people are getting high both off of state and federal funding, and weed.

Is there a solution that would let people get high without also taking from the state or federal government? There might be a solution, but I believe that most people that want to smoke weed the most, probably want to work the least.

I know there are exceptions to this work less, weed more rule, and there are some people who work hard all week, and maybe Saturday night they just want to relax and get high. But for every one of them, there are probably 10 times the number who just want to get high and will resort to figuring out how to game the system to pay for their legal fix and the ability to get high every day.

I suppose one could impose a minimum income rule, so to be eligible to smoke weed, a person would have to show a minimum income of say, 10-15 grand a year, and no federal or state assistance. However, just what kind of work would the weed whackers do that wouldn't endanger others?

I have never heard anybody bring up what I have brought up in this article, but I really believe it is at the very core as to why Marijuana becoming legal will be a tough road to hoe.

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Allstate Motorcycle Ghost Bikes commercial reviewed.

I understand the Allstate Ghost Bikes commercial is hip, it probably goes over well with the younger crowd, the guitar riff is sparkling, and so on, but, come on, just what is All State saying here?

What Allstate is saying in their commercial and on their own webpage is a head scratcher.

In case you don't want to enlarge the image by clicking on it, Allstate is saying,

Just protecting

your bike isn't enough, Allstate Motorcycle insurance protects the bike, and more importantly, you.

Lets think about this for just a moment. Just how is Allstate protecting a motorcycle rider DURING AN ACCIDENT! The answer is, Allstate IS NOT PROTECTING ANYBODY during an accident!

Its probably more accurate, and truthful to say that Allstate will help protect WHAT IS LEFT OF YOU after your accident!

Repeating...Allstate motorcycle insurance protects the bike, and what is left of you AFTER YOUR ACCIDENT.

Do you know how golden this advice is that I am giving? Allstate could do two things at the same time, they could entertain, enthrall, and be viewed as hip by the younger crowd, AND, Allstate could also remind everybody that "What is left of you" may not be the best route to take with your motorcycle.

I found a smaller mistake on a State Farm Commercial this past summer but State Farm never made the commercial available on the internet, too bad for them because I believe their message could have resonated even louder and clearer if they had me as a consultant because I found a mistake that probably was fixable without reshooting.

I'm here, I have an intuitive mind for making commercials better, but I can't make someone come to me if they think their stuff never could be improved.

There is also one more philosophical flaw in the entire Allstate commercial campaign that I won't divulge at this time. Just sayin.

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ITT Tech commercials, my critique of the commercial where the student says he likes everything about ITT Tech but can't offer specifics.

I think I see what ITT Tech is trying to do in their commercials. They are trying to show that their schools are for anybody who wants to better themselves, and to that end, anybody who makes it through their curriculum can be featured in one of their commercials.

So, if a participant in the commercial says, "What I like about ITT Tech, long pause, I liked everything about ITT Tech", I may see, cop out answer, but I think ITT Tech sees, this is an honest representation of our students, and we are proud of their after program success.

I am conflicted because I too believe in showing people as they are, and yet, I feel the answer given in the commercial is a cop out. During the long pause where this student is contemplating an answer, I noted an overall seven second "space" for his response. So even if the student had had an answer, he would have only had seven seconds to give it.

At that point, It wouldn't have bothered me one bit if they had written the answer for the student, asked him if he agreed with the statement, and if so, would he like to claim it as his own. I consider it acceptable to write an answer for a student as long as once it is written the person repeating the response absolutely believes it 100%, and is NOT PRESSURED to say it.

In this instance, I have to classify the non response as an epic fail, and an answer that I blame the producers and director of the commercial for accepting as the final word. I think they made the student look bad, and that's not really fair to the student, and I personally don't think the commercial is helpful to ITT Tech because I begin to question how believable the person featured really is.

Edit Update, Dec. 03, 2010 I just found this rather disturbing review of ITT Tech, click here to read it.

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Explaining how after Jerry Brown hung up the phone his offices conversation continued to be recorded.

I'm using my over 2 decades working with film, video and audio production to figure out how we could hear Jerry Brown obviously hang up the phone, yet not hang up the phone. The obvious answer is the phone just did not quite make it onto the hook, and that is one scenario.

However, there is another scenario to consider. Lets say an aide at a nearby desk dialed the call but uses the speaker phone to hear when the other party picks up the phone, at which point Jerry is signaled to pick up his phone. This is not that unrealistic of a scenario since many times that is what an aides job is, to make calls and connections for the higher ups in the office.

The aide that made the original phone call may have actually kept the speaker phone on after Jerry Brown began speaking because it makes it easier to keep everybody else in the room immediately aware of what Jerry Brown is actually saying during the phone call. It is easier to sit next to a speaker phone situated 20 feet away from Jerry Brown rather than try and listen to Jerry Brown talk directly into the phone from that distance.

Jerry Brown finishes the phone call and actually does hang up, however, the speaker phone at a nearby desk is still on, thereby keeping the line active, causing the answer device to keep recording because it can still detect sounds being uttered.

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