Wendy’s Shows A Woman Who’s Breaking Up With “Basic Mike”

“Basic Mike” is boring. He uses the password “password”, and everything he owns is grey. Even his cute cat. Meow. He thought she liked Basic Mike, and she did, but that was before she had Wendy’s Made to Crave chicken sandwiches. Poor Basic Mike. The woman is played by Corsica Wilson, and Basic Mike is James Skinner.

AT&T’s Runaway Train Commercial

Here’s one where you don’t know what it’s advertising until the very end, but it’s so compelling to watch that you can’t turn away. We see a scene from the old West, with a train rumbling through the rugged landscape. Then there’s a gang who’s going to blow up the tracks and rob the train when it derails. The engineer sees it happening…but it can’t stop in time. It blows, and then the derailed train turns into a kidsy stop-motion animated scene with a catchy song. From Westerns to family films, you can get movies and more with AT&T Unlimited Plans. Here’s more from Ad Age about AT&T’s very fun spot.

Applebee’s And “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”

Applebee’s continues a campaign where they pair their products with songs from the past. In this case, it’s their new loaded fajitas and Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.” They also have another spot featuring Barry White’s “Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe.” And Applebee’s also made a pharma parody about how those loaded fajitas can help “low sizzletonin.” It basically was a faux-depression medicine ad (think serotonin), and has since been pulled off of Applebee’s YouTube channel for understandable reasons. It’s rather preposterous that someone thought that was a good idea. Here’s an article about it.

 

Burger King Brings Its Chicken Parm Sandwich To Little Italy

I chuckled at the guy saying “this is the mecca of Italian food in New York City.” Because it isn’t anymore…Manhattan’s Little Italy is a shadow of what it once was. The real Little Italy in NYC is Bronx’s Arthur Avenue. I do like a good chicken parm sandwich though. This Burger King spot is getting a lot of hate and negative comments on YouTube, with most of them implicating Burger King with inciting violence in the UK. I was quite confused by this, and found the explanation. People complaining about milkshakes…sounds pretty petty to me. And isn’t it ironic that the people who call others snowflakes are the ones that always seem to be offended by everything? But I digress…

 

Geico: Karl The Antarctic Researcher Sings “I Want It That Way”

’90s nostalgia comes to the forefront in Geico’s latest. We hear Karl singing karaoke to “I Want It That Way”, much to the annoyance of his Antarctic research colleagues. Karl’s off-key warbling is so bad that it leads one of the men to try to escape into a frigid storm. Luckily, they wrangle in Kevin before he makes it out. This marks the second high-profile “I Want It That Way” spot this year…the first being a Doritos Super Bowl spot with the Backstreet Boys and Chance the Rapper. Karl the karaoke guy is played by Prince Mario-Max Schaumberg-Lippe (he’s a real-life royal), and Kevin is Kevin Camia.

 

That Microsoft Surface Commercial With Producer Taylor Church

When I saw this one, I thought Taylor Church was a celebrity (or she at least had her own Wikipedia page). That isn’t the case, so starring in a Microsoft Surface ad must be great exposure for Taylor. YouTube commenters seem to think that she’s quite attractive, and I have to agree with them. 16+ hour days are pretty common…makes me tired to even think about that.

Amazon Echo: This Grandpa Likes “Valerie”

Aww. Here’s a very cute and wholesome spot for the Amazon Echo. A young man gets his grandpa the new Echo Show, explaining that he can use it to play music or check the weather. Grandpa seems uninterested though. Grandson helps out around the house, while singing “Valerie” to himself. Turns out that grandpa likes the song that goes “Valerie” (Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse’s extremely fun version of “Valerie”), and the young man is pleasantly surprised.

Progressive’s Flo Leads A Focus Group…A Flocus Group, If You Will

I’ve sat in focus groups before, and Progressive’s portrayal is pretty dead on. From the inane commentary (“I’ve seen violence”) to the off-topic tangents (“Top of the bundle to you!”), it all sounds familiar. We all know Stephanie Courtney is Flo, and Jade Catta-Preta plays Meredith, the mom who disapproves of violence. Jamison Webb is Kirk, the “top of the bundle” guy, and Marco Rodriguez is Carl, the underrated “I’ve seen violence” dude. Anyone know the others?

Bed Bath & Beyond Presents “Offline Shopping”

Online shopping has had a massive impact on brick and mortar stores. I mean, I’m a retail worker at a store, and yet I still use Amazon all the time. So in their new ad, Bed Bath & Beyond pokes fun at millennial types who have grown overly accustomed to online shopping at all times. A young couple is redecorating their home and the woman seems to be befuddled by the concept of a brick and mortar store. The sales guy Ryan says it’s “offline shopping.” You can touch anything before you buy! And it turns out that you don’t need 2-day shipping when you can buy the thing and leave. Wow! I also enjoy how the guy in the couple is just on his phone the whole time, not paying attention to anything. That sounds like me. I’ll update this post with actor/actress info if I can find it.

The Song From BMW’s 3 Series Ad

This one came out at the end of February, but I guess I missed it. I haven’t been able to find the shorter version that’s been on TV lately, so I’ll post the full-length one. It’s a deeply stylized spot that seems to focus more on dancing than the BMW. That sounds like a criticism, but it’s still very cool and fun to watch. But if you’re here, there’s a good chance that it’s because of the song. And that song is Dennis Lloyd’s “Nevermind.” By the way, the woman is the yellow shirt is Kris Alexandrea.