Friday, June 27, 2008

Failure to launch

I've spent much of the day trying in earnest to upload two videos I took of the Fire Explorers learning how to tap a fire hydrant properly without much success. For some reason blogger keeps refusing the two 3 minute videos; I hope it's a temporary problem. 

In the meantime, I'd like to express my newfound devotion to the Old Spice corporation. For years and years I was a Right Guard type of guy, with the occasional dabble into Gillette brand deodorant. I can't honestly say that I've ever own anything made by Old Spice until this past year. 

What did it for me? The commercials. 

I think I'm like most Americans when I say that the most annoying by-product of living in a highly commercialized, disposable economy are the ads. You can't go anywhere without seeing them, billboards, newspapers, books, athletic fields and arenas, Web sites, etc. It has reached the point, I believe, that the average American is completely saturated with advertising. 

Which has the dark-humor sort of effect by canceling itself out. When was the last time you honestly went out and purchased something because of an ad (I'm discounting movie ads here, because that's just not fair)? You buy things because they're recommended to you, by a friend, a relative or a teacher/boss, not because you saw a billboard on I-95 strongly urging you to get that new Mach Turbo 9000 with 16 blades for the smoothest shave in your life. 

So when a company actually goes out and does some original marketing, not a dance mascot, or a series of shots of satisfied customers, but a real inventive line of advertising, I'm sold. Hell, I started buying Old Spice brand products just out of appreciation. 

This spot, which I believe came in the middle of a Super Bowl, was confusing, but had potential nonetheless. I was intrigued, but not yet sold. In fact, it probably wasn't until I saw this that I began to truly understand what it meant to be an Old Spice kind of man. Still, I didn't buy my first stick of Old Spice deodorant until they began running this already classic spot. Now I can happily say I not only own Old Spice deodorant, but Head and Body wash as well!

Ahoy!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh Old Spice and your clever advertising! It's enough to make me want to play the piano and grow a moustache!

Luckily, I can do neither, and would probably be frowned at being a girl with a moustache, wearing Old Spice... anything, and playing the piano.

Perhaps if I wasn't playing the piano...

On another note- cool that you're doing so much Derrick! I'm really happy that you're making things work for you up in the wilds, and that you have not yet been eaten by bears.

I am greatly anticipating the first time you get to write about a bear being found in some hilarious location, like pushing a grocery cart in a supermarket parking lot, or perhaps splashing about in the fountain on the town green.

Anonymous said...

Welcome to the light side, my friend. Old Spice deodorant is the greatest of them all.