raceon4

Just thought that everyone may want to discuss or vent about all of those commercials that constantly repeat. There is one that sticks in my mind. It's the AOL for Broadband commercial. That little kid must be pretty skilled if he can be watching a porn movie with just two keystrokes. I know there are other commercials that have been repeated as well.

ManBearPig

I'm so sick of almost every commercial!

OK, we get the point by now AOL - you provide the capability to surf for porn (a subtle, underlying, message subliminally directed to the parents) along with a filter to prevent your kid from seeing it. I don't need to see the commercial 25 times per day.

Then there's Lance riding cross country along with what sounds like a rip off of the acoustic Nick Drake song from the VW commercial. SEE LINK: VW Cabrio Commercial

I saw in another thread many of you love the commercial, but I think it's a ripoff of this commercial.

Or maybe it's a ripoff of the G'n'R song Civil War - whenever I hear those acoustic guitar licks, I can't help but say over the music, "then you get what we had here last week...which is the way he wants it. Well....he gets it. I don't like it any more than you do..."

The Dasani water commercial is stupid. Ha, ha...Lance the bike rider is playing hoops and challenging a Harley. I don't find it cute or amusing.

Then there's Lance with split-second soundbites tacked onto a banal Subaru ad, without any imagination whatsoever as to how to incorporate his name and likeness to promote your product. I think Lance is a charismatic guy, but the producers do not know how to capture it, and he comes across flat.

His soundbites are not well executed in any of those ads. I blame the producer, as they did many takes. The two sound bites I can think of are "Come ride with me!" and "my work here is through." The inflection is just all wrong in both takes.

Sure, the commercials have an impact insofar as I can recall them (as evidenced above), but I am not at all compelled to rush out and buy Dasani, a Subaru, nor AOL. They all suck. Especially AOL.

dragracer

I have to agree. Everyone knows Lance could beat most any Harley. They should have him trying to pick a race with a Hayabusa. LOL!!

Guest

I think they have the same 10 commercials and run them over and over. Ho hum is about all I can think these days.

I can't stand that stupid guy screaming about the cyclysm- I turn the televsion every time they start to play it. Couldn't they get someone who can 1) act, 2) maybe give off more of a humorous, yet crazy fan, and 3) not look so freakin' ugly?

Koffee

edidiot

Don't blame the run over, ya'll know that OLN advertising spots are not filled, hence run over is the only way to fill those spaces.

holicow

Towlie, I agree with you on just about every point, just maybe not so strongly


On the AOL commercial: Nice job on the subliminal thing, I didn't appreciate that until you pointed it out. Hey! Is that why they call it "subliminal"? Dang!

My question is: Why does the 5yo have a computer in his room, and uses it unsupervised?

I like the Armstrong--just do it, commercial. Rip-off or not, makes no diff to me. It's the only one I don't get tired of

Guest

I guess for all the b!tching we do, if OLN didn't have advertising and didn't advertise, we wouldn't get the Tour, so I guess I should calm down a bit and just grit my teeth and deal with it.

Koffee

Crack'n'fail

As stated above, the problem is that advertising dollars are not being sent OLN's way for the Tour slots. Bad news for fans of the sport. I imagine when Lance's story ends so too does U.S. access to extended Tour coverage.

As for the Nike commercial being a ripoff, the music isn't really that similar other than that it's acoustic. I do see some similarities in the production and wonder if the same company did both spots. Have to look into that.

Guest

The day we stop getting coverage of the major races I will move out of the country and renounce my citizenship!

Koffee

lotek 

The problem is alot of advertisers that are not sponsors of Lance
chose not to buy spots. Giant bikes pulled out
(even refer to OLN as the lance channel) as did a few others.
Until there are more advertisers we are gonna get the same
handful of commercials.

few points. I agree, why does the kid have computer with internet
access in his room?
Dasani commercial, its all in the question "Got Game?", its Lance's
drive/competitiveness etc. Sure he's gonna get tromped, but
he has to, he's lance, even down to the who can finish the Dasani first.

At least we don't have runnawayshoes.com
or Lincoln Navigator, be thankful.

Marty

Guest

Too bad, Lotek. With a better sales team, they should have been able to milk the Lance train and get as many non-Lance sponsors on board as possible. Sure, it's obvious OLN is rallying around Lance, but why not ride that gravy train, even if you're not directly getting the meat that makes the gravy?

That's just bad sales on the part of OLN. If I had a product and I wanted to sell it and I had the money, I'd be all over OLN like a cheap suit.

Koffee

margoC

I must be the only one that likes the commercials. It's nice that for just this month I can see a commercial about a "real" sport! I like the cyclism guy and the nike commercials where everyone is riding their bike. I don't care about the AOL commercial, what does it have to do about bikes anyway. Cute kid though.

The bad part will be in August when I have to come back to the real world. Oh well. I WILL ENJOY THESE 3 WEEKS WHILE THEY LAST!!

khuon

The Cyclism guy reminds me of this guy who dances around at the bottom of the freeway ramp around here and advertises for various local businesses. I always see him in a huge heavy overcoat (in the middle of summer even) with headphones on and dancing like he's in some moshpit while holding up a sign. I think the "employers" figure that anything moving will attract attention. I saw the guy walking around one day inside Target. He wasn't holding a sign but was still dancing and walking with his headphones on and the CD player going. I don't think he's really all there. This about sums up my feeling of the Cyclism dude. He doesn't look enthused... he just looks crazy and I lump him in the same annoying category as the Steven, the Dell dude.

drivers

What, no Kevin Smith fans around here? The "Cyclism guy" is in several of his movies like "Chasing Amy", "Mallrats", etc. His name is Jason Lee. click here for filmography He does some very funny yelling scenes similar to the Cyclism commercials ("that kid is back on the escalator!" from Mallrats).

But it does get old after the 100th time. Thankfully there is tivo...

khuon, oddly enough I think I know who you are talking about (I just had to check if you were in the seattle area and you were). Is this in the factoria area? If so I used to live around there and saw him all the time. Small world. (or not)

khuon

Yes, I'm a Kevin Smith fan and yeah I recognised him as Jason Lee although it took me a while... like five times of seeing the commercial which given the amont of times they run it was within a half-hour. I just didn't think anyone else would know who he was.


Yep... watching the TdF is so much better with TiVo. Even though I am actually up to watch it live, I delay my viewing by a couple of hours just so I can use TiVo to fast-forward through the annoying stuff. This is especially true for the Pre-Race Show.


Interesting. I see him in the Issaquah area actually... usually at the bottom of the exit 17/Front St. ramp off I-90. Sometimes he'll be at the corner of SR900 and NW Gilman Blvd. though. I guess he's moved slightly east. He's a big white guy with some weird afro-hairdo. He always looks happy.

fujibike

Well at least there's a little more variety than last year - man did I get tired of seeing Shredder/Chipper ads. As far as the current ads I kinda enjoy the Nike ad that ends with the kid on a 20' bike riding on Lance's wheel.

Guest

Yeah, I remember that tired, has-been. He wasn't that funny back then, and he's still not funny. Maybe he should just find his reality show of the moment or something. Bleah.

Koffee

Crack'n'fail

let's not be too hard on Jason Lee, he is doing a spot for the Tour after all.

Also, just wanted to mention that the kid surfing porn in that commercial is NOT in his bedroom. It's a home office space with shelving, files and cabinets and a desk behind him.

MMPC

Wow, a thread right up my alley. I guess I'm in the minority calling the "Cyclysm" spots brilliant but it won't be the first time. Not that my opinion is worth any more than anyone else's, but with a background in advertising/production, I do notice that they accomplish everything a good spot should. They get your attention, they hype a product (or event, in this case) and they're visually stimulating. "Cutting through the clutter" is what it's all about in advertising and those do it. Former pro skateboarder (so he knows a bit about sports) and actor Jason Lee does a great job as well, IMO. Also keep in mind that those spots are airing all over the cable dial - not just on OLN. I do agree that - like anything else played too often - they're getting a bit tired but (as has been mentioned numerous times) the reason for that is that OLN has little else to run in the way of advertising.

Here's my hope - that it's one of the best, most entertaining Tours ever (and it's shaping up that way), that the viewership is bigger than ever and those advertisers who initially sat on their asses scramble in the remaining week to fill OLN's pockets.

As for the non-OLN related spots, my favorite is for the USPS. A good way to go out, the spot featuring the team delivering mail is great. Even Lance - whom I agree could use some acting lessons - does a great deadpan with the ending line "tomorrow?" The aforementioned Nike spot (like the Cabrio spot Towlie mentioned) is pure art and while it too will get old, right now I'm still enjoying it. I don't see it as a rip-off, myself, but to each their own. BTW, Wieden & Kennedy, out of Portland, Oregon produces Nike's spots; the "Milky Way" spot for the VW Cabrio was produced by Arnold Communications out of Boston.

My least favorite spot is for Specialized. They're so dark and vague - works okay in a magazine where you can stare at it for a minute or two - bad on TV.

Regardless of whether we like any of the remaining spots, kudos to those advertisers who did step up and support OLN's coverage!

Kaiser

I like the Cyclysm spots as well...and even though not a huge Kevin Smith fan, I did recognize Banky from 'Chasing Amy'. Hey, that character represents the inner voices of the crazed cycling fans we all are!

The USPS spot - it's about time the Postal Service got some mileage here in the US out of their sponsorship! My mother-in-law works for the Post Office and every year I ask her if they have any promo material for the team (team pics, posters, whatever). They have nothing - one year I got an Express Mail envelope that had LA's pic on it after he won his second TdF. Woopeee!! Anyway, it's nice to see them work in some of the domestic riders like Tony Cruz and Robbie Ventura (a local Chicago boy!) into the ads along with the likes of Landis and Armstrong. Witty and innovative spot. I wonder who Landis had to bribe to get them to allow him to wheelie in the commercial?

Am I the only one sick and tired of the Army Special Rangers spot?

AZCyclist

I find some of the commercials can be a little annoying, but if that's what it takes for me to see the Tour over here then so be it. I am out of the house before the Live coverage is on in the morning so I record it on the Tivo and watch it when I get home with the commericals quickly skipped by. Thus making them much more tolerable.

I also have been editting them and recording them to DVD without the commericals at all so that I can get my fix during the winter.

Guest

My friend's husband works for USPS, and she shocked me last year when she handed me a few things from USPS that was like the 100th anniversary edition stuff with US Postal pics and pics of Lance. Your mother-in-law was robbed!

Koffee

Kaiser

I just called her up and asked her to please look a little more earnestly! Maybe the Skokie P.O. gets nothing....

Guest

Perhaps. My friend's husband works in the Chicago northside offices. I can find out exactly which office, but I know they get stuff. And at the downtown offices, I saw posters of US Postal and Lance all over, and I even saw a jersey once. I tried to buy it, but they said it was NOT for sale. I believe this was at the Harrison office.

Koffee

Kaiser

Hmm, up on the North Shore, none of the POs have any Cycling Team stuff up. Northbrook, Glenview, Skokie. Nada. Ahh, maybe I'll ask the owner of my LBS to grab something before they throw it away. The lifesize cutout of Lance would go well in the basement (for the kids, of course! )