McGarryBowen Chicago is Back with More From ‘The Denskies’

Last week, we introduced you to McGarryBowen’s new “Denskies” campaign for Sears, and it wasn’t pretty. The spots employed a tired “There’s a better way to…” gimmick and random offensiveness without any real humor attached. Now there’s a new spot in the campaign,”Chupacabra,” and it’s pretty much more of the same.

There aren’t any mouth-raping squirrels in “Chupacabra,” but there is a chupacabra. The Denskie patriarch accidentally beams the chupacabra into the house with a teleportation device he created to get products the family ordered there sooner (that’s the “There’s a better way…” tie in for this spot). What the husband, or any rational viewer, doesn’t expect is that the chupacabra isn’t bent on destruction but rather takes a fancy to Mrs. Denskie. (What is it with McGarryBowen, Sears and bestiality?) This ridiculousness is played up with the wife still deciding between Mr. Denskie and the chupacabra, in a “To be continued…” ending for the 1:10 spot. I’m not sure who decided this (or any of the “Denskie” spots) needed a sequel, as I can’t imagine anyone clambering for more after watching “Chupacabra.” Maybe it was just easier to run with this concept than to come up with a new, random idea incorporating zoophilia. Credits after the jump.  continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

McGarryBowen Debuts Three Ridiculous Holiday Spots for Sears

It seems that the fight for the craziest, most absurd holiday ad is in full force, with McGarryBowen Chicago being the latest agency to throw their hat in the ring with three new spots for Sears that introduce us to “The Denskies.”

While Draftcb’s currently causing controversy with its Joe Boxer jingle for Kmart (and let’s not forget the earlier Satan/Genghis Khan layaway spot), McGarryBowen makes that holiday effort seem tame in comparison to its “Squirrel Revolt” ad. It wouldn’t stand out from the other two “Denskies” installments, in its “let’s be as crazy as possible” humor, were it not for the line (assuming I’m hearing this correctly), “Oh god, it’s mating with my mouth.”

The aforementioned spot (which you can watch above, though you probably shouldn’t) begins with Papa Denskie explaining to his wife that he’s trained “those pesky squirrels” to cut coupons. Everything, though, soon goes haywire, the squirrels attack the man and elicit the crazy, over-the-top response from the above paragraph. (You know, the one where the guy gets orally raped by a squirrel with a rage boner.) If people were pissed off about Kmart’s “Show Your Joe,” I can’t imagine how they’ll respond to this one.

The other two “Denskies” spots for Sears have plenty of crazy to spare as well. In “Robo Granny,” the same man builds a robotic grandmother so that the family won’t have to go visit their real, living grandmother. Predictably, chaos ensues, dragging on for way too long, with the spot clocking in at 1:23 but seeming more like a 5-minute endurance test. Meanwhile, “Medium” sees agency and client portraying their subject as some kind of crazy, possessed witch lady. I’d almost feel bad for real mediums if it weren’t for the fact that they make their living by pretending to talk to dead people (sorry, Sylvia Browne, RIP). The message from Sears this holiday season seems to be the tired “Don’t do something crazy to save time and money, shop here” approach–just with the crazy pushed well beyond the point of reason. You can check out the other two after the jump, along with credits.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.