That Zenith commercial: funny, or an extraordinary lapse in taste? (1 Viewer)

[Jack Briggs]

Surely most of you have seen it by now:
The scene is a crowded nightclub. A man emerges from the men's room, careful to look cool, hip. Yet people are noticing something untoward about him. Then another man walks out the men's room, effecting the same look-at-how-cool-I-am hipness. Yet a couple of women are pointing at him, with disturbed looks on their faces.
The next shot is of the man's crotch--he has clearly wet his pants. Then the voiceover kicks in as the scene cuts to a crowd of slack-jawed gentlemen in the men's room, obviously mesmerized by the images being displayed on a Zenith plasma TV, the inferrence being that Zenith's digital technology is so awesome that it makes people lose control over their functions.
My take: If this ad were shown instead as a "parody" cooked up by the writing staff of Saturday Night Live and broadcast as such on that program, I'd have an LOL moment. But as part of an actual advertising campaign for a respected manufacturer of DTVs, I wonder about it. I've worked as a copywriter, and I would never have seriously conceived of anything like this (for fear of losing my job, among other things).
Of course, the ad is tame compared to some others I've seen. Yet I can't help but wonder if this commercial will hurt Zenith more than help it.
What do you think?
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[Edited last by Jack Briggs on November 08, 2001 at 02:57 PM]
[Edited last by Jack Briggs on November 08, 2001 at 02:59 PM]

 

[Patrick Sun]

Do you mean that SNL ad skit with the peni-pads? LOL!
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PatCave; HT Pix; Gear; DIY Mains; DIY CC; Sunosub I + II + III; DVDs; Link Removed

 

[TimDoss]

The picture on the TV was, I believe, something with
a swimming pool... I took it as the picture was so
real that these guys were getting splashed.... I don't
know.... pissing on themselves was my first thought,
but I couldn't see how that would fit by any stretch
of the imagination.

 

[Jack Briggs]

But what would anyone think upon viewing the scene of the fella's wet pants?
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[Mitty]

I haven't seen the commercial, but it does sound like a case of marketing to the wrong people. The commercial sounds like it would appeal to either youth (teenagers, young adults), or the lowest common denominator, neither of whom are exactly the segment who are buying plasma televisions, I don't believe. High end consumer electronics (well, it IS Zenith, but still) being marketed as though it's beer and potato chips doesn't sound like a winning strategy.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I don't know, would you have preferred the same commercial, except the Plasma screen makes them SHIT their pants instead if wetting them!? I think they made the right choice!
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To the men and women of the N.Y. police and fire department
God bless you.
To the victims and their families
God keep you.
To the dirtbags who caused all this
God help you!!!

 

[Danny R]

I took it as the picture was so real that these guys were getting splashed.... I don't know.... pissing on themselves was my first thought, but I couldn't see how that would fit by any stretch of the imagination.
If they were splashed, then why was only a certain area of them wet?
My take is that the image is so enthralling that they forget to take care of business properly, as their minds are elsewhere.
[Edited last by Danny R on November 10, 2001 at 08:03 PM]

 

[Chris Lock]

C'mon, most of the people around here would wet their pants if they got a plasma TV.