Justin Bieber Drums And Jelly Babies Talk: 5 Ads You Should Watch Right Now
Justin Bieber hangs out in his pants, a hotel is made entirely from salt and a jelly baby talks about child safety. Yep, it’s just another week in AdLand!
But which ads have caught fire on the web over the last seven days? Here are our five picks.
Enjoy!
5. Calvin Klein Underwear – Justin Bieber
If you’ve seen the Oscar-nominated film ‘Birdman’, you’ll know the entire movie has a frenetic jazz drumming score that drives the pace of the film like an overzealous jockey. The latest spot by Calvin Klein Underwear is very similar, except that it’s 16 seconds long, has a single mumbled line of dialogue and stars everyone’s favourite post-teen Canadian popstar.
There’s one reason the spot has soared high on this week’s Viral Video Chart and it’s name is Justin Bieber. Wandering about like he’s forgotten his clothes but bloody loves it, Bieber shows off his non-vocal assets and some Beckham-level terrible tattoos. To everyone’s relief, he ends the spot by clarifying that they are “my Calvins” because it would be pretty bizarre if they weren’t.
4. National Geographic – This Hotel Is Made Entirely Of Salt
This documentary spot from National Geographic wins the grand jury prize for ‘Self-Explanatory Title of the Week’. Exploring Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni hotel, a unique structure based in the middle of the world’s largest salt flat, the video will make you acquainted with a holiday destination you didn’t even know existed.
The luxury hotel is kitted out with salt desks, salt chairs, salt floors, even salt bellhops (no, not really). A particularly amusing moment comes when the tour guide feels it necessary to clarify that even the salt used in food preparation comes from the landscape. Seems like a no-brainer, but then again, I’d probably just chip off a bit of table for a little seasoning.
Come back next week for Nat Geo’s spicy visit to a condominium made entirely of paprika.
3. St John’s Ambulance – The Chokeables
This clever PSA from St John’s Ambulance applies a ‘Toy Story’ twist to an important message about babies and choking hazards. Told by a Jelly Baby, a plastic figurine and a chewed-up pen lid, the ad gives practical advice about how to prevent and handle young children choking on small objects.
For a reasonably serious topic, there’s a gentle vein of humour injected. As the Jelly Baby admits, “I’m a baby that chokes babies – such a tragic irony”. The stately Stephen Fry-esque voice given to the princess doll is similarly a fun surprise, wrapping some genuinely useful information in charming writing and production.
2. Philippines Department of Tourism – It’s More Fun In The Philippines
We’re now deep into January, unofficially the worst month ever, and if the gloom outside wasn’t bad enough, the Philippines Department of Tourism are here to make you feel even worse about the UK weather.
The so-accurate-it’s-bragging It’s More Fun In The Philippines is a zippy montage explaining why you’d rather be in South East Asia right this minute. There’s the paradisal vistas straight out of ‘The Beach’, all manner of adventure sports and an enthusiastically summery tone that explains why it’s been shared nearly 6,000 times since its release a few days ago.
1. McDonald’s: Signs
‘Signs’ is the next step in McDonald’s sentimental push to reassert their place as not merely the country’s most famous food export, but a cultural and social hub. Following humorous lovefest ‘Archenemies’, the brand’s latest spot ditches pop culture spoofing in exchange for a very American brand of sincerity.
In uncharacteristic stripped-back style, ‘Signs’ is essentially a slideshow of the custom billboards erected beneath the franchise’s Golden Arches. The signs on show range from the domestic, celebrating a birth or the birthday of a 95-year-old customer, to the moments of national crisis and mourning.
Whether or not invoking these moments in a McDonald’s spot feels appropriate is up to viewers’ discretion, but ‘Signs’ certainly feels less like an fast food ad than it does a campaign video for a presidential campaign.
