Carlton Draught - Slow Mo
This commercial is brilliant in so many ways, chief among them being the fact that it totally pokes fun at the way so many commercials try to tug on your heartstrings. If you weren’t paying attention and just kind of heard this playing in the background, you’d think it was some stupid perfume commercial. It sounds like it’s trying to make you cry. But the ad itself is hilarious. The whole idea of things looking better in slow motion and words sounding better if they’re in opera form are classic advertising tricks. I’m always so embarrassed by the number of ads that make me get all teary-eyed, because they’re always ads for stupid things like cars or jeans. Of course, those ASPCA ads are pretty effective too, but I feel a lot worse crying over a Hallmark commercial than I do crying over abused animals.
The hilarity of this commercial is chiefly in its timing, though. Example: when they guy’s finger gets hit with the pool ball and his shout coincides perfectly with the swell in the song. It fits perfectly and is awesome. Also, the whole premise of men looking better in slow motion is a pretty good one. Imagine if this commercial were in full speed. It’d be exactly the chaos, messiness and vulgarity of your typical sports bar – it wouldn’t be funny at all, it’d just be gross. The slow motion highlights the beer itself really well, too. Notice all the shots of the beer sloshing around in its glass, or bubbles rising up from the bottom of the pint glass. It makes the beer look genuinely elegant, but the commercial’s premise respects the consumer’s intelligence. They know that we know beer really isn’t elegant and they’re laughing along with us. I really like ads that don’t patronize the consumer, and I think this is a great example of one. Trying to sell to me by appealing to my baser instincts (read: basically all women’s products) or making me feel like I would be a happier person if I just had this product in my life usually just annoys me. We’ve all been so inundated with ads throughout our lifetimes, my generation especially, that it’s not hard to spot an advertiser trying to make us feel something false. This ad acknowledges that its product is not going to make you happier – it’s just beer and when you drink it you’re just going to be doing all the gross stuff people do at bars. But it does a great job mimicking those ads that talk down to you and make you get emotional over some silly brand. It reminded me of that great lamp ad Ikea did a few years ago, which is another favorite of mine.
More than anything, though, I wanted to critique this ad because I laughed so hard at it. None of these shots hold back at all, and some of them are completely disgusting. I don’t know the last time I saw such a realistic ad, and they only get away with it by making it in with such an unrealistic tone. Paying attention to the lyrics of the song makes it about a thousand times funnier, too, like at the end when he is seriously just singing “blah blah blah slow motion.” The whole ad is so ridiculous and so effective. I would drink a Carlton just as a thank you to their company for making such a clever commercial. Definitely one of the best ads I’ve seen here.
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