IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Test Pattern: Commercials that wear well

Is it fair to judge an ad on whether it works over and over again?

Commercials that wear well

Thanks for the comments and nominations for the best and worst commercials competition. As your e-mails come in, I'm starting to notice a pattern. Some commercials drive us mad not because the idea itself is terrible, but because when viewed in heavy rotation, they just don't hold up. Not to keep harping on the , but maybe if I'd only seen it once or twice, I'd find it funny. The sheer fact that I must have watched it, oh, four thousand and sixty-three times since it was launched may have worn off my appreciation of the "roast duck with mango salsa" line.

Is that a fair way to judge an ad? I'm not sure. Maybe it's fair for the ad agencies to assume that they only have one shot to get their message across, and for them not to think about those who will see it often. But I tend to think a good ad agency will consider the nature of the medium, and that the best efforts can stand up to repeat viewing.

So when you're sending in your commercial comments, think about whether they're one-viewing-only ads, or the type you can watch over and over again. It seems to be the best ad should be one that's not a one-note-joke commercial. For me, if an ad is slapsticky or relies on a sight gag, it's a one-noter. If it features a cool technology (like last year's winner, HP's "Frames" ads), great music, or adorable pets, I can happily watch them over and over again.

But I'd just like to say: There's no way, even if I only saw it once, that I would EVER be able to tolerate the . Just in case you thought I might be softening.

BESTS“My favorite commercial is for Pet Smart. It is the one with the dachshund and his stuffed toy Bobo. You see the dog playing with Bobo and he gets pretty beat up. When the dog is asleep the owner throws the old Bobo in the garbage and takes her dog to Pet Smart for a new Bobo. The best part is when they swipe Bobo and the dog at check-out. It’s such a sweet commercial and makes me smile every time.”    --Bonnie

“My favorite commercial airing right now is for Advantage (I think). It is the commercial where the cute little Lab puppy is singing “Ain’t no bugs on me, there might be bugs on some of you mugs, but there ain’t no bugs on me”. I don’t often watch commercials but when I caught my father (who never watches commercials) sit down and singing along with this one I thought well this must be a good ad.”    --Bridget

“What about the Dr. Pepper commercial, “I would do anything for love... but I won’t do that!” The boyfriend does yoga with his girlfriend, buys tampons for her but as soon as she tries to take a sip of his Dr. Pepper, he runs out the door. My favorite!”    --Stephanie

“Speaking of FedEx commercials, love the one with the big-haired kid sending a package to “Pahonix, you know, that city in the desert.” Good stuff!”    --Lisa

WORSTS“The absolute worst commercial today is the one from Direct TV with the “Baby Back” cannibal and the little man. It’s disgusting! How can we get in touch with Direct TV’s ad agency to say “TAKE IT OFF.””    --MarySue

“Worst ad of the year? The Wendy’s ‘Sensational Salads’ ones - you know, the ones with that awful blonde actress mugging her way through a phoney cooking show in order to sell some salads? Everytime I saw her cheezy blonde head and heard her nasal “sensational” it was a rush to change the channel.”    --Jessica

“I don’t know if the ad is new this year or not, but I totally hate the beepbeep.com ads with Jeff Gordon. He is driving around a Nascar track and all the fans are yelling beepbeep.com. With such precision he is able to spell beepbeep.com with his car. The music is irritating, the narrator is irritating and I have to turn the channel each time I hear it.”    --Molly

“Worst commercial EVER is for Motel 6 featuring a guy who travels around the country to attend Scottish festivals. He’s wearing a kilt and walks into a Motel 6 room while extoling the virtues of staying at the chain. He sits on the edge of the bed and says, “and I’m very comfortable!” as he spreads his legs wide. But wait, there’s a tam o’ shanter strategically placed. Wink, wink, you know they never wear skivvies under those kilts. UGH!”    --Laura

Chatting about the cavemen, more

Roast duck with mango salsa, anyone? Here are some of your thoughts on Geico’s cavemen, followed by some more nominations for best and worst ads.

CHATTING ABOUT THE CAVEMEN“I think that the commercial is practically perfect. It is memorable, and gets the point across, as well as being fairly clever and entertaining. However, every time I see it, I find myself focused on the clothing of the cavemen- it looks so 1980s Miami Vice. I wonder...is it deliberate?”    --Paul

“Well thought out and clever, including the prequel of the caveman as an audio tech in the studio. It’s an ad, folks. You want the dork doing the robot again?”    --BB

“You know, we are all so easily offended. No one has a sense of humor. I think it’s actually poking at all of us. And our right to [get] indignant about just everything. I get it. I think it’s cute. I just wish they would advance the story line. What happens after the duck with mango salsa? Do the cavemen get over it? Do they get some sort of check for their trauma and get to do the talk show circuit?”    --Tracey

“I recall being very angry at a boyfriend once when out to dinner, and telling the waiter that, “I’d lost my appetite.” Every time I watch this commercial I imagine I gave the exact same disgusted look to my boyfriend, and that it was just as effective. The Caveman commercial cracks me up EVERY time. Eventually we made up... and I presume the GEICO folks were forgiven by the cavemen... someone else can do it easier than a caveman... couldn’t imagine “whom” or “what”... but can you imagine? The whole ‘chain’ of forgiveness commercials. They’d be talking to monkeys in sign-language... Hilarious!”    --Darlene

“People who don’t “get it” may have missed the first commercial (where the Geico ad man tells an audience “it’s so easy even a caveman could do it.”, because they’ve cut it into two separate ads. Personally I crack up EVERY time I see it. It’s my fave. And is it just me, or does that last (very insulted) caveman not look EXACTLY like Val Kilmer? Maybe that’s the best part of all. (Sorry, Val.) haha!”    --Jen

“Actually, the ad that preceded the “restaurant” ad when the spokesman says “So easy a caveman could do it,” and then the camera pans to the cavemen working on the sound crew where one cave is holding a boom mic and gets angry and throws it down and storms off the set is much funnier to me. Geico only ran the ad a couple of weeks before it disappeared.”    --Ron

ADS WE HATE:“Worst commerical ever: That stupid bee from that nasal spray commercial. Dear God. What, did they make it in 1996 on a 486 computer with 3D Studio Max 1? The horror! And the accent! What's with the accent?!”    --Shari

“I'd have to say that smug Bob in the Enzyte commercials drives me crazy! And when they mention and show his "lovely wife" waiting for him at home, she looks scared to death that he's home!”    --Amy

“The Worst: That creepy, giant "pet" ant that fights its owner over - what, gum? - and drags the owner down its hole?”    --Scott

‘I’m so sick of the PartyPoker.com commercial that shows the guy with the blow-up doll. They air this particular one so many times I wish the ad would fold like the doll itself.”    --Dawn

“I can’t stand those disgusting Mucinex comercials, with the mucus husband and wife! If it wasn’t for the footsteps they leave behind, it may not be so bad. Everytime I see it though, I want to throw up. Why would that convince me to buy their product?”    --Rebecca

“I have been waiting a week to voice my opinion on this - I saw a new version of the horrendous Pepto-Bismol dance commercial but this time with BREAK DANCERS! Why? Why why why?”    --Patti

“I am not sure if this one is eligible but when did the Geico gecko get an accent. I am positive that he did not always have one - I HATE it! Whenever he starts talking I want to throw things at my TV - thank goodness for DVR.”    --Beth

“Ya know, I’ve been in radio for many years. I learned a long time ago that, when a spot gets complaints, we re-cut it and move on. Having said that, it’s obvious that the makers of that toenail fungus pill haven’t learned their lesson..and they obviously don’t read your column. Why, you ask? I just saw Digger on the tube and I had the same reaction as always which is running from the room, fingers in my ears and singing La La La until it was over.”    --Melanie

ADS WE LIKE:“I love the Quench energy drink commercial, where the guy's scarecrow becomes a vigilante style robot attacking all freeloaders (including hippies!) It makes me laugh every time I see it!”    --Bron

“My favorite goes to the HP commercial with "The Flying Tomato" Shaun White. Even though you don't see his face, except for a shot of the back of his head wearing sunglasses, it is "magical" how he highlights the different parts of the HP-listening to music, viewing photos, watching movies, etc. The overlaid graphics and hand motion is very smooth.”    --Ward

“The Verizon commercial with the guy meeting what I assume to be a mob boss or loan shark type guy. The mob boss says, "I thought I told you to come alone." and when the camera pans around we see the poor guy's network standing behind him. Then the boss's demeanor rapidly changes with "Really? You get service out here?!" I can't really put my finger on it, but it is hilarious and gets me laughing everytime I see it.”    --Sean

“My favorite commercials are the ones for Jimmy Dean Sausage that show the sun getting ready for his day of work. My favorite of the series is when the daughter keeps telling her father that the mom does it differently. Father's response is he doesn't have time because the "has to heat and light the earth." The actor delivers his line with the proper amount of exasperation and smugness (he's really important, he's allowed to be smug) and the daughter scrunches her nose at the response. Although, I probably enjoy this commercial most for personal reasons since 'I have to get up early to heat and light the earth' has become my husband and my response when we don't want to do something. Good times.”    --Casey

“I really enjoyed a commercial I saw for the first time recently. The ad is for Gatorade and it depicts children playing typical sports that children play: basketball in the driveway and football and baseball in the front yard. The childrens' heads have been digitally replaced with the heads of famous athletes. It's a fairly standard special effect these days, but I thought it was very cleanly done and evoked memories of our own childhood pretending we were sports stars in our own yards.”    --Richard

“Best Commercial of the Year! The Dr. Pepper ad where a guy loves it so much he never sets it down. My favorite part is when they show him swimming laps while drinking out of a Dr. Pepper can.”    --Lacey

“My favorite commercial so far this year has been the Staples Easy Button ad where staplers start raining from the ceiling and clonking everyone on the head because what's-his-name is sitting on the "Easy" button. There's just something about staplers raining from the sky like hail.”    --LoriAnn

“What about the commercial with the caveman who is charged with sending a package, he uses a pterydactyl only to have it eaten. The lead caveman promptly fires him and tells him he should have used FedEx which of course hasn’t been invented yet. In the end, the caveman gets stomped. I laugh sooo hard every time that commercial comes on. Way more clever than the Geico commercial.”    --Emily

Multi-link Monday: Random ‘Lost’ theories, more

We’ll get back to after the July 4 holiday, but I wanted to shoehorn a Multi-link Monday of random linkage in here. Remember, you can always send in suggested links – I love to use reader suggestions.

• “Lost” fans have the whole summer to put the pieces together and solve the mysteries of the island before a new season starts in fall. This offers plenty of food for thought. The plane crash is all in their heads! They’re government guinea pigs! The jungle monster is a giraffe! Locke’s father is one of the Others! The Others are human clones! If you disagree with the first theory you’re given, just refresh for a new one.

is an interesting concept. Type in the name of an author you like, and it will map that person out on a continuum with other writers. Like one, and you might like the others on that page (or not, but it’s a fun exercise). (Thanks to MSNBC.com contributor for the link!)

• Here’s a good topic for your next bar bet: How many of the top-grossing American movies of all time can you name? What’s #1? How do the various “Star Wars” offerings rank?

• Whenever I drive past a generic looking warehouse whose name and appearance give absolutely no clue to what’s done there, I like to imagine it’s one of those monstrous companies in the movies that are always up to no good. I dub them all “Evil Corps,” from the great “Mystery Science Theater” version of “Time Chasers,” and envision that inside they’re busy cloning dinosaurs or creating Terminators, something like that. Usually they’re just manufacturing electric cords, but my way is more fun. Anyway, Wikipedia has a , from the Dharma Initiative from “Lost” to Batman’s Wayne Enterprises. You can add to the list, too.

Reader-submitted link, from my friend Sara in Hawaii: “I just found something that might be of great interest to readers and viewers of It is . Viewers can read about the various paintings, etc., see them “in context,” I guess I’d call it, and can zoom in on individual features of specific works of art, etc.”

Defrosting the Geico cavemen

Our TV commercial debate is off to a lively start. I'll share a bunch of your nominations on Wednesday (after Multi-link Monday and July 4 interrupt the discussion a little, but first I wanted to focus on one ad in particular. Every summer, there's at least one TV commercial that splits the audience. Some folks love it, others lunge for the remote to turn the TV off whenever it comes on. Think Quizno's Spongemonkeys, or their Baby Bob.

I think we've found this year's hotly debated commercial, and it is the Geico cavemen. For those who haven't seen it, the ad starts off with a Geico rep touting online insurance "so easy, even a caveman could do it." It then cuts to a fancy restaurant where the rep is apologizing for the remark to two well-dressed but hairy cavemen over a fancy dinner. "Next time, maybe do a little research," spits out one. His pal then orders the "roast duck with the mango salsa." The other caveguy has no appetite, being so disgusted, apparently, by the insurance-company insult.

I couldn't find the ad on either or the site of , which apparently created it, but you can watch it numerous places online, including at .

Some folks love the ad, and crack up every time it comes on. Others find the cavemen unfunny and the ad's point mystifying. Personally, I think the ad was kinda funny the first time I saw it, but it's not one that holds up to repeated viewing for me. I've now seen it so many times that I can practically recite the dialogue, and while that's not Geico's fault (obviously, they want to drill their company name into our brains), it doesn't make me feel kindly towards the doofy cavemen, either.

Who are the cavemen? Blogcritics' editor Eric Olsen (who's contributed to MSNBC.com) that identified the actors as and . Weber's appeared on "Everwood" and "The West Wing," among other shows, and Phillips has been in "Profiler" and some other shows. But how funny would it be if the defining roles of their careers turn out to be the "duck breast with mango salsa" cavemen?

Here are some of your comments on the cavemen ad:

“I hate the Geico commercial with the cavemen. I think it’s dumb, I don’t think it really makes sense... Plus I think the costumes are creepy looking!”    --Nancy

“Priceless....so funny, the ‘cavemen’ actors are truly brilliant to watch, and what a great way to catch viewers' attention. I rarely see this commercial, and often talk about it. When I do see it I laugh all over again.”    --Lora

“The look the second caveman gives to the suit at the end is priceless! I don’t know if this commercial falls into the proper timeline but it still airs, and it still makes me laugh out loud every time I see it. And I swear it’s in the same snooty restaurant that was in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” (Remember “Abe Froemer, the Sausage King?”).”    --Jenny

Time to get commercial

Oh yes, it's that time again. For the last two summers, we've named the best and worst TV commercials out there. We've also discussed everything relating to them, from classic ads to music in commercials to what sells a product, and why. And we're about to dive in again.

Last year, the , with its how-did-they-do-that freeze-frame motif, was your favorite, winning in a walk and inspiring me to ask if it might be the perfect commercial.

2005's worst ad was more debatable, but you ended up giving the dishonor to a supremely stupid Tampax ad that involved the product being used to stop up a leaky boat. The less said about that ad the better, but you can read about the .

Back in 2004, Citibank's identify-theft ads were your favorites, and new versions of the ads continue to run today.

But it was the least-favorite ad of 2004 that continues to garner the most e-mail comments from you. No one, it seems, is neutral about the hideous Lamisil toenail-monster commercials. I finally had to declare a moratorium on even mentioning the little bugger so that I could face my e-mail box without getting sick to my stomach. Read about the here.

The rules to the contest? There aren't really any rules, other than the fact that past winners and losers can't win (or lose) again, and that the commercials must have run within the calendar year of 2006. Don't just name the product in your e-mail, describe the ad in question and why you love or hate it. Be sharp, be funny, be educational, and you're likely to get quoted.

There are a few givens, I know. Someone is sure to write in all smug about how "I don't WATCH commercials, get TiVo," and someone is sure to write in and one-up the smug with "I don't WATCH television, read a book." Lectures duly noted. I have TiVo, too, but I'll still watch a funny or unusual ad. And I just don't buy the argument that TV and books are mutually exclusive. Many folks also will write in and claim that even if a commercial is awful, it's still working as long as it's getting people to talk about it. I've disagreed with that before, and I will do so again, I'm sure. An ad that insults my intelligence may get me to remember the product, but it'll also get me to remember never, ever to buy said item.

Let the nominations begin!