In the past, this category has only discussed advertisements, be they posters or trailers, for films and television shows.  The reason for that is two-fold.  One, that’s initially how I envisioned it.  Two, generally I hate commercials.

It’s not that I’m angry at the interruption in my entertainment.  Sure, in a perfect world I’d be able to watch movies and TV shows without any sort of advertisements, but as someone hoping to become a screenwriter, I understand that it’s how they pay the bills.

So it’s not the fact that commercials exist that annoys me.  It’s that so many of them are SO BAD.  Most of them are of a poor enough quality that I’m offended.  They are a few that are mediocre enough that I can just be indifferent, and when that happens, I’m grateful.  But it’s a rarity that I actually enjoy a commercial, so I think the great ones are worth celebrating.

When you really pare it down, commercials are short films or sketches.  They tell a story or deliver a punchline.  But most of them aren’t very funny.

In general, I find that certain companies continually make enjoyable commercials.  They must have done a good job when they hired their ad people and know what it takes to hang onto them.  VW is one of these companies.  I can’t say that their latest ads are amazing, but at least they’re interesting.

IKEA is another.  This isn’t the time to debate the merits of the store.  I can complain about it at length despite the fact that the majority of the furniture in my apartment comes from there.  But I don’t think anyone can argue the quality of their commercials.

An example:

Short, simple, and to the point.  You can’t ask for anything more.  The other commercials in the “I thought of you” campaign aren’t as great, but there’s a plethora of ads available to watch on Youtube, from all over the world.  Many of the best are ones that would never air in America and include everything from vibrators to death by fork.

I could post a bunch of them here, but instead I’ll just post one, which happens to be my favorite commercial of all time.  I won’t give it much preface except to say it was directed by Spike Jonze.

How perfect is that?  Unless you have no soul, you are ABSOLUTELY feeling sorry for that lamp.  I first saw this with a group of friends while watching a pre-recorded episode of Saturday Night Live.  Luckily this was the first commercial at the beginning of a break, otherwise we might have skipped it.  Instead, we were mesmerized by the tragic tale of this poor lamp, only to break out into hysterical laughter when we were mocked for sympathizing for an inanimate object.  I’m pretty sure we re-watched it seven times and found it far better than anything on SNL.

The biggest difference between this and most other commercials, other than the concept, is the execution, especially in the music and the directing.  You might not be able to recognize it as Spike Jonze from just those few moments, but you can tell it’s a quality director.

Obviously a lot of directors get their start in commercials, so I’m not suggesting that only proven people should be making them.  But not enough directors are actually DIRECTING the commercials.  A funny actor and a good joke are (usually) necessary, but something that’s shot well stands out against the blandness of most advertisements.

But the best commercials actually FEEL directed, in a good way.  The worst ones feel like something a group of guys filmed and threw up on Youtube (and I mean that in both ways you can take it).

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