jtherkal: Oh, I get it. The beaver is repaying the favor. In this year’s crop of terrible ads, this wasn’t the worst. But it was far from great. I think the idea was probably sound, but along the way there are decisions that could have been made to really play up the drama. Build the story. Show the beaver’s family at home, in the den. Show the beaver rushing to get to the bridge in the rain, so he can save his friend. And so on. B-.
sjbooher: Cars! I never realize tire commercials are for tires until way too late, but that might just be me. I liked this one, but I think, in retrospect, I was grading on a curve. It’s not as good the 2nd time I watch. I’ll downgrade to B-.
jtherkal: Yessss! First, I love reply all mishaps. I could listen to reply all stories for hours. Never gets old. And second, this is just the right amount of crazy/slapstick for my sense of humor. Not too over the top, don’t dwell on any joke too long. I could watch that triple phone slap-coffee sequence ten times and still laugh. Who was it for? Bridgestone? Oh. They had some tires and whatnot, but this probably would have been a better non-tire commercial. Still, I love it. A-.
sjbooher: I’m right with jtherkal on this one. Liked the gag, liked how there were several quick in-and-out scenes, but wished it was more obvious it was for tires, somehow. B-
jtherkal: Ugh. This is terrible on so many levels I don’t even know where to begin. Nothing like a good joke about leaving your wife to get raped in a future world to save your tires. What an absolute load of crap. This basically says nothing about the tires, only about the Bridgestone tire marketing department and whatever sorry agency churned out this abomination. F-.
sjbooher: I have a long history of criticizing ads that do not prominently display their product. You know what this ad is for, as far as I could tell? SeaWorld. Why… I’m not even going to get into the details of the “nonsensicalness” here. And I just bought Generals. Suck it. F.
jtherkal: Get it? Killer whale? Bachelor party? Hey Bridgestone, we all saw The Hangover. Best to not try doing a :30 second gag biting off the funniest movie of the last year. Only the line “it’s in my mouth” saved this from an F. D-.
sjbooher: Oh, God? Where do I even start? I’ll go with the obvious… “Jump Around”? I do not think there could have been a worse song for this ad. That song is played endlessly during sporting events throughout the country, so much so that it now just blends in with the crowd noise, whistles and pad smashing of football. And unless those astronauts have been on the moon for FIFTEEN YEARS that is not what they are rockin’ in the moon rover. F.
jtherkal: What!? I love Jump Around. And I’m not ashamed to say it. Does Bridgestone make space tires? It says official tires of NFL, not of NASA. I guess this is sort of fun and I bet older people like it. The song would feel hip to someone 40, and those people buy tires. B.
sjbooher: Reading your review makes me want to quit this forever.
jtherkal: Ha! Her mouth goes bouncing down that hill so he doesn’t have to listen to her nag anymore. Then she puts in her mean eyes. We can relate to that, can’t we fellas, huh? Bitches be talkin’. I like Mr. Potatohead and I like this. A.
sjbooher: Kind of good. But didn’t the brakes save the potatoes and not the tires? Whatever. C.
I feel like this is a combination of things I’ve seen before. The continued scream, animals in front of cars doing something. The only redeeming qualities are the silently screaming grasshopper and that woman’s strange cartoonish face. And I don’t think the copy at the end fits. For drivers who want to get more out of their tires, it’s Bridgestone or nothing. Not running over animals is getting more out of your tires? That seems like it should be the cost of entry. For drivers who want pretty standard tires, how about Bridgestone?
The Hawk: The first thing I thought of when I saw screaming animals, was the other recent car ad featuring animals with human qualities — the Jeep Liberty ad — which we both ripped. I guess this one is good for a bit of a chuckle, but the branding seems horrible. Mouth is correct about the mis-matched copy and on top of that, there have been a ton of ads over the year for actual cars, featuring this type of “quick swerve” action. They also wait too long to mention Bridgestone. That needs to happen earlier, then viewers wouldn’t be left guessing. Further review bumps it a little from my initial grade, up to a C-.
Unexpected Obstacles — B+
This brings to mind a very real fear I have. The night deer fear. Whenever I’m driving in a wooded area at night, I’m paranoid that a deer is going to bolt out in front of me. Sometimes, I can’t even watch the road, I just scan the woods for a family of deer cantering out toward the road. After the deer, I love seeing Alice Cooper there. I didn’t expect that. Richard Simmons is what he is (for some reason, hearing him shout “I believe in you” after we’ve gone to title cards makes me laugh). I think using two celebrities was sort of cheap. They could have come up with something else that was funny and unexpected, like an old lady in a bathtub with her cat. Wouldn’t expect that. I also would have liked to see more of what the tire is doing. I understand it helped him avoid hitting thingsl, but maybe a slow motion capture of the tire gripping the road or something? Fear the deer. Go Bucks!
The Hawk: I have the same general complaints with this one, only they switched not-really-that-funny animals with B(C? D?)-Level celebrities. Most Americans who once recognized Alice Cooper probably fried their brains away and thought some sort of sad clown was featured in this ad. The lighting is terrible as well, making it hard to see anything, and I’m STILL left asking: “Hey, what car was that for?”. Can’t wait to see the third edition! F.