George Clooney Honda commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8yUbngqX98
The advertising's in Japanese, but the language at the gas station is something else. Whatever. It's shown on Japanese TV, and that's what interests me. The music makes it for me. Without the Bee Gees, that commercial wouldn't be much at all.
I was talking to Naofumi-san about my obsession with Tommy Lee Jones commercials, and he asked me about the Brad Pitt commericals, if I liked them. I hadn't seen any of them, so he told me they're for SoftBank and it's kind of a phone thing. He also mentioned that they're a little weird (which is not saying much, most of what's on Japanese tv is a little weird). I finally saw one the other day, and yes, Brad Pitt in a bright yellow pantsuit, photographing a topless woman is a little strange. That's one of the newer ones; the older SoftBank commercials are just shots of him wandering around various places while talking on the phone. Definitely not as cool as Tommy Lee Jones. There are also some older ones (from circa 1996 - the "12 Monkeys" phase) that are for a brand of jeans. They're also slightly insane. Or incredibly boring. I found them unworthy of being posted here.
SoftBank commercials:http://www.dalealplay.com/informaciondecontenido.php?con=142697
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O13WPQMVPcY (I really liked the soundtrack in this one, even if the rest of it isn't all that inspiring)
What I like so much about the TLJ commericals is that they've got that little bit of social commentary - there's something of the satirical about them, if only in the slightest and most innocent of ways. It's like fluffy satire (fluffire? saffy? er, pass) Filming 30 seconds of attractive people ostensibly doing nothing but look attractive is going to get people's attention, but it's probably not going to generate any kind of deep thought. Whereas, with the TLJ commericals, I've actually had discussions about them with some of my students, even beyond "wow, you really like them?"
What would a post about Japanese commercials be without a TLJ commercial? Here's the latest (#17 in the series):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNP90Lunvyg
and #16, which is my favorite after #9:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZdMksVjzI8
Speaking of getting people's attention, here's my favorite non-foreigner celebrity commercial:
Gatsby Moving Rubber: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk2FBNlOmR8
This mesmerizes me every time. Every time.
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