TAXI Vancouver Comes Clean for Hughes Carwash

Bacon doesn’t make everything better. Hughes Carwash “wanted to capture the emotional relief one feels after having their car washed.” So TAXI Vancouver took that idea and ran with it — all the way to crazy town.

Their four new spots for Hughes Carwash — “Bacon Underwear,” “Rabies Shot,” “Nose Hairs” and “The Internet?” — all feature a couple coming clean with each other about various things they’ve been keeping secret. Three of the four spots open in the same way: with the woman revealing she’s not a natural redhead and the man revealing that the necklace he bought her (and that she is currently wearing) is actually just a string of sausages. That should give you an idea of the crazy brand of humor that fills out these spots. One of these thirty second ads contains a full 25 seconds of the man laughing. So clearly over-the-top is what TAXI was going for here.

While the campaign as a whole may not be laugh out loud funny, they do have a certain meshugana charm to them, and the actors portraying the couple do an admirable enough job. The exception being the one that wastes most of its thirty seconds on the man laughing. If you don’t already know the concept behind the spots, the idea may not make sense until the end of the ad, with the “It Feels Good to Come Clean” tagline. Without such an excellent tag to tie things together, it would be easy to forget why we’re watching these crazy people in the first place. All four of these spots will air during Canadian coverage of the Super Bowl. Click through for “The Internet?” and credits. continued…

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Canadian Charity Depicts ‘Extra Ordinary’ Lives of Those with Down Syndrome

From Toronto-based Juniper Park comes “Extra Ordinary,” a short documentary for Canadian-based non-profit Circle 21.

Debuting earlier this month on World Down Syndrome Day (March 21), “Extra Ordinary” gives a brief yet revelatory glimpse into the lives of those afflicted by the cognitively and physically debilitating condition. In my mind, what gives this little five-minute piece the most impact is not the images of people with Down Syndrome living happy and fulfilling lives. Instead, it’s the gripping narration from parents of these people, echoing one’s own views of an outsider looking in.

It’s hard, nay, impossible to understand what these people go through on a day-to-day basis, and it’s easy to feel sorry for them while simultaneously discounting the positive they impact they can make on everyone they meet. Even easier is perceiving that those with Down Syndrome can’t enjoy the same kind of happy lives that the rest of us can. But, hopefully, this doc can change those perceptions for some people. Credits after the jump.

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