jtherkal: I’m curious to hear your take on these baby spots now that you have your own baby. Me? I love them. Always have, always will. The writing is good (”That’s actually a perfect Enzo.”), they’re easy to remember since we’ve been seeing them for years, and they have babies in them. In this one, the finger on the mouth with a shush kills me. You’re welcome. B+.
sjbooher: I give up. I don’t like it, but who am I to deny the people? B-
sjbooher: Fine. I admit it. I like this one. B-.
jtherkal: Welcome back. I think being a father has made you soft. A.
sjbooher: Amazing… they even pulled off sexism/misogyny with babies! But the people love it, apparently… C.
jtherkal: The people love it indeed! This is one of the only ads that quieted the entire Super Bowl party. People want to know what that baby is going to say. Milkawhat!? A.
sjbooher:Alright. I give in. Shankapotamus was the last straw I could no longer resist. A.
jtherkal: I like the baby. I like golf. I like the writing in these ads. A-.
jtherkal: eTrade is holding on to the talking baby ads. And why not, they’re simple, funny, recognizable. And you can have that baby talk about anything. Do I remember what service they’re selling? Nope. But I remember the brand, and I remember “take these broken wings…” A-.
sjbooher: Yep, I give up. Count me in. My mom loves these too, if that counts. A.
My love for these commercials flies directly in the face of years of hatred toward talking baby ads. I believe it was Quizno’s that did a talking baby ad last year or the year before and I lambasted it as a cheap, horrible effort. But for some reason (well, the writing is the exact reason) I love these. They talk about the product and I’m entertained. Success.
Spit Up: B+
jtherkal:
“A. Don’t worry about it, I just look young…you don’t know how old I am.” And the baby spits up. Didn’t see that coming, did you?
sjbooher:
There is absolutely nothing I hate more than an investment ad. I don’t care what kind of investment-related product it is, the minute I realize what’s going on, I let out a loud groan and usually some sort of profanity. I didn’t even get the chance to do that here, because I was already groaning about YET ANOTHER TALKING BABY. SHUT. UP. F.
Clown: A
The Mouth:
I know my associate doesn’t care for these, so I want to take a minute to point out some of the details that make me love this spot. Like the way the dialog/baby’s train of thought is interrupted by the sound of that balloon at the beginning. That’s something you have to plan out and think about. A subtle detail that makes a big difference, in my opinion. I think if it had just been a straight read, this would have fallen flat. But the director, or someone, knew what they were doing.
“Me and the boys were talking about what to do with all this extra coin, and I was like, I’m rentin a clown…and I did…Bobo here.” I like the writing and the actor’s read; it seems very natural and comes off funnier because of it. Plus, that baby wanted a clown–and it got a clown. That is a man of action. You have to respect that.
sjbooher:
A talking baby and a clown! What will they think of next? Oh, they’ll make a joke about clowns being creepy! How original! Awesome. FAIL. F———