sjbooher: Ok, everybody, I’m pretty sure I’m throwing this in Ad Exec Masturbation. Ad Exec 1: “Hey, we’ll get big football players to do ballet!” Ad Exec 2: “Yeah, and we’ll have them dance with our colorful lizards, and the lizards will act cool like you’d expect the football players to be!” Ad Exec 3: “Yeah, and it’ll be colorful! And 3-D! And no one will know! Let’s spend millions! Awesome!”. Nope. Terrible. F.
jtherkal: Ugh. Ray Lewis, really? You need to ask for a bigger contract or something, because this is downright embarassing. I’ve never been a fan of these stupid dancing lizards, and this spot made me want to rub hot wing sauce in my eyes and punch my TV–and I love my TV. F-.
However, I think the 3-D thing needs to be rated on its own. While I agree that not many people knew about it, if you did, it was the probably the biggest phenomenon at your Super Bowl party. At my house, someone brought enough 3-D glasses for everyone, so people were wearing them around all night. And then when the commercials finally came on it was a moment of great excitement. Until the Sobe commercial. Then it was a moment of great disappointment.
Still, they did a bad job letting people know they needed glasses. B.
sjbooher: We previously reviewed Naomi’s “Dances With Lizards” moment, giving it mediocre to negative reviews. Part of my issue with the ad was the choice of serial slapper, Naomi Campbell, as the dancing model. Campbell is not even THAT recognizable… they surely could have found some other hot-ass model, without a criminal record, to dance with those lizards. Well, now Miss Campbell is back in the news for yet another another assault! This time she allegedly spit on a police office at London Heathrow Airport. Amazing. Genius selection, team! I say that sarcastically, but it may actually be the truth. This ad has BLOWN UP on the internet… it’s everywhere. Everyone rants and raves about it, giving Sobe Life Water untold amounts of free press. And you know what? I really love it now. I can’t get enough. SO BAD IT’S GOOD!!!! There’s something about that “reach for the sky move she does” near the 38 second mark, that I just can’t get enough of. This is my first official grade change… A+!
jtherkal: We had a focus group with teen girls yesterday and they brought this ad up as one of their favorites. I’m still not buying it. Maybe they should team her up with NFL wide receiver Chris Henry for a second ad in this series. The role model dream team. They can smoke dope, slap people around, buy alcohol for and spit on underaged girls, carry guns, and generally just raise a ruckus. I don’t remember what my grade was, but I’m not changing it. It’s not quite bad enough to be good.
sjbooher: Aren’t there already too many advertising lizards? Is Michael Jackson really who you want as the voice of your campaign? And if he isn’t controversial enough, why not use a model, Naomi Campbell, that has personally kept a few dozen criminal defense attorneys in business over the years? Is the SoBe name ever actually mentioned in this spot? Why are the lizards better dancers than Campbell?
Although this is mildly entertaining (I like the colors, music and the lizards with grills), I think they could have done a much better job. D.
jtherkal: Maybe if this was on during Project Runway or America’s Next Top Model, but during the Super Bowl? It seemed entirely out of place, which perhaps was the goal, since I remember it. My first instinct was that it was terrbile, and rewatching it hasn’t done much to change my mind. However, I disagree with my associate on his disapproval of Michael Jackson. That’s old-school Mike and the people love him. I also like the part where the lizard eats the bug–trials of life. C-.
Update — sjbooher: I’m starting to develop a weird obsession with this commercial. But before I get to that, let’s run down Miss Campbell’s legal history (thank you Wikipedia): –In 2000, she pleaded guilty to a 1998 assault on Georgina Galanis, her then assistant; Campbell had assaulted Galanis with a telephone in a hotel room and threatened to throw her out of a moving car. –In March 2005, Campbell allegedly slapped assistant Amanda Brack and beat her around the head with a BlackBerry personal organiser. –Italian actress Yvonne Sciò has claimed Campbell left her “covered in blood” after an altercation at a Rome hotel. Sciò claimed: “She punched me in the face. She was like Mike Tyson.” –On March 30, 2006 in New York City, Campbell was arrested for allegedly assaulting her housekeeper with a jewel-encrusted mobile phone, resulting in a bloody head that required several stitches –On October 25, 2006, Campbell was arrested in London on suspicion of assault; she was released on police bail. –On January 16, 2007, Campbell pleaded guilty to a charge of reckless assault against her maid Ana Scolavino
Have you heard enough? How in the hell does she get an ad deal? “Drink our water. You’ll want to beat the shit out of people!” Athletes (think Kobe Bryant following rape charges) are vilified the instant they so much as sniff a court case, almost always losing any endorsement deals. What is so unique about Naomi? This stuff is fairly recent, and I’m not aware of any resurgence/transformation she’s undergone. I’m not even sure over half the people who saw this recognized her, so they could have easily used some other hot young thing.
But maybe they saw what I’m beginning to see, as my odd fascination with this ad grows. Once it comes on, I can’t turn it off… Do I love to hate it? Is it so bad it’s good? It’s something… and I can’t figure it out. It makes me feel weird. Something about her dancing is not quite right… and I like it? Is she a lizard woman? Either way, since one of the lizards eats a grasshopper, they should’ve had her beat the hell out of someone with a cellphone!
04/03/2008 — Update to the update — sjbooher: It’s official… the first IRateAds.com grade change! Check it out.
