Holiday Inn Continues Stupid Man Trend With Cal Ripken Spots
Adding even more to the dumb dad/idiot man trend, these two (1, 2) new commercials for Holiday Inn and its position as Official Hotel of Major League Baseball pit four idiots against Cal Ripken so they can make asses of themselves. Is it really a good thing to portray your potential customer as an idiot and then expect them to hand over their hard-earned dollars to you? We think not. Oh sure, we're not the dumb one. It's that one idiot from left field we can all laugh at so that we can feel better our ourselves. Still, does every man in every commercial have to come off like an idiot? Oh wait, don't answer that. If we make all men smart in commercials, we'll have to stop treating women like eye candy in commercials and that would be a very bad thing. Bring on the dumb dads. Maybe we'll get more ads like this.
Comments
The worst part is that they have used guys like Joe Buck as their spokesman. Does any sports fan actually like that guy?
OK, I'll be the one to say that, dumb guys or not, these ads crack me up. I think they're some of the funniest on the air. I'm sick of the "dumb dad" trend, too, but to me this just plays off and exaggerates the goofiness that happens when four guys spend a little too much time together on the road.
"Every once in a while a campaign comes around that's so good you don't notice you're watching a commercial"
- Steve Hall (Commenting on this campaign in July)
http://www.adrants.com/2006/07/holiday-inn-campaign-highlights-strange-b.php
Whats up with the contradiction?
Um, they're different ads?
Stupidity recycled! Back in the 90's Fosters ran similar ads depicting a Fosters beer drinker character who was so naive that he failed to recognize the super-celebrities who he strikes up conversations with in a bar. If we squirm in embarrassment at a character’s naivety it makes it nigh on impossible for us to ‘feel like’ or want to ‘be like’ - let alone use the same products as - that character. I tracked those commercials, week by week, over many months - for the opposition. Each time the ads appeared they had a negative effect - that's no typo - on the Fosters brand.