Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee – A club for every kid (2016) :30 (USA)

This short but sweet animation aims to both raise awareness that the clubs exist and attract mentors, donations & help. It is about ensuring that Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee is there for every child and family that needs us, every kid needs a mentor, a meal after school, a safe place to be. I love the animation style, which shows how frightening simple things can seem for lonely children. The world without mentorship can be a scary place.

Reebok "Kendrick Lamar: Classic" (2016) :30 (USA)

Kendrick Lamar waxes philosophic about staying true to yourself and avoiding distractions. Lamar isn’t just a Reebok ambassador but a guy who is waging peace between Compton’s Crips and Bloods. Kendrick can speak with authority as he grew up there. And his Ventilator shoe sports both red and blue as a message of unity between the two gangs. While I like the message of this spot, and love what Kendrick is doing for the community, I’m puzzled as to the setting.

Ooma "The Walk" (2016) :30 (USA)

Ooma is a landline hybrid that offers free nationwide calling (kind of like what Skype already does) and in this case, even if you leave your house, Ooma will call both your landline and your mobile. This seems extremely redundant to me but it’s a nice premise to remind us that we’re constantly busy or on the go and there must be a better way to get in touch.

Ooma "the neighbor" (2016) :30 (USA)

Ooma blocks all kinds of unwanted calls, so if your neighbor Phil here, was a telemarketer, Ooma would have already blocked him. Ooma, by the way is kind of a hybrid landline smart phone. With an Ooma Telo, you can make unlimited crystal-clear nationwide calls for free over your high-speed Internet connection using their existing home phone. I keep forgetting there is a large part of the population who still has home phones.

Samsung – Voices of Life (2016) 2:35 (USA)

Samsung - Voices of Life (2016) 2:35 (USA)
What a touching idea. Samsung has developed a new way for parents & preemies to connect, via sound. “Voices of Life,” a Launching People initiative, enables a mother’s voice and heartbeat to be transmitted to a baby inside an incubator “wombified”, which has been shown both to help parents bond with their babies and to enable babies to receive the maternal sounds they need for healthy brain development. No more beeps and machines as babies company only at night, but mom’s heartbeat and lullabies. My thought went straight to the boy who beeps, but babies don’t learn to beep-communicate with those hospital sounds around then, they are just robbed of the comforting womb sounds that help their brains develop.

A baby starts to hear sounds in utero around 24 weeks, but for the 15 million premature babies born each year, the nurturing sound of the womb is lost. Research suggests that exposure to a mother’s voice and heartbeat can help a preemie’s brain develop and grow. Launching People, a global campaign by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., designed to help consumers unleash their potential and create meaningful change through the use of Samsung technology, initiated this pilot program. Through the “Voice of Life” app and Samsung speaker technology, a mother’s voice and heartbeat will be “wombified” for baby’s ears (a process which removes high frequencies not present in the womb), and then sent to the incubator at NICU.

Fantastic idea. Also “wombified” is a lot simpler than you’d expect, they simply make it better for week for baby’s ears by using a process that removes high frequencies not present in the womb.

Alliance Defending Freedom – The Unintended Victims of Bathroom Bills and Locker Room Policies

Alliance Defending Freedom - The Unintended Victims of Bathroom Bills and Locker Room Policies
In some states of the United States there’s heated debate currently going on as several states and schools are opening up the bathrooms and locker rooms, effectively making them unisex. The idea is to be non-discriminatory of course, which is laudable, but as this long choddy explains there are unintended consequences when childrens right to privacy is tossed aside, as there are actual predators out there. As the Alliance Defending Freedom explains: “The individuals featured in this video speak from firsthand experience dealing with the issue of sexual abuse to explain why opening the women’s restroom to biological men is a harmful policy. Advocacy groups report that, in the United States, nearly 1 in 5 women and nearly 1 in 8 high school girls have been sexually assaulted.* For many of them, the mere presence of a biological man in a women’s restroom is a trigger that causes severe emotional and mental harm – regardless of that man’s intentions. ADFlegal.org/SafeBathrooms.”

The most piercing insightful soundbyte comes at the end when a trans woman and mother speaks, stating: “At a time when so many sexual assaults go unreported, we’re telling (the children) that their boundaries don’t matter”. It’s very long, too long even for a piece like this I feel, but I suspect they did that on purpose as the issue has sides and points that needs to be heard. The question is whether this will be effective in a time of fast soundbytes and 140 char comebacks. They do address some of them in the piece, for example the “you should EDUCATE YOURSELF” mantra thrown in anyone face. This eleven minute video is an education.

Bethesda – DOOM launch trailer – (2016) :60 (USA)

Bethesda - DOOM launch trailer - (2016) :60 (USA)
DOOM is back, and will be released Friday the 13th because of course it will be. The demons are back and you need to kill them all as you jump between dimensions. This does look good, unlike the reboot of DukeNukem (can we all say “disappoint?” They wouldn’t even show that trailer until after 11 pm, and lets not talk about the cranky tweets that lost accounts, but I digress… ) So unlike Duke, this game looks to have gotten a major demonic rehaul in the looks department. The fight like hell trailer already made our mouth water. I fear if I get this game you won’t see me again until 2017.

Old Navy Tees: Jay Pharoah + Cowboy (2016) :15 (USA)

Old Navy Tees: Jay Pharoah + Cowboy  (2016) :15 (USA)
I mean, sometimes it’s best not to ask.

Radio Flyer is imagination on wheels

Radio Flyer isn’t just a wagon. It’a a tool to fuel kids’ imagination. Nice, simple art direction here.

Old Navy Tees "Nasim Pedrad" (2016) :15 (USA)

Nasim Pedrad describes flirting in what i can only assume is an attempt to be funny. Also, Old Navy.

Old Navy "never basic tee" (2016) 1:00 (USA)

What do you get when you add Nasim Pedrad + Rockabilly, Jay Pharoah + Rocker, Kumail Nanjiani + Surfer, Cecily Strong + Hippie and Jay Pharoah + Cowboy? You get a really bad ad with a bunch of borrowed interest and zero idea. Not like Old Navy has ever been known for doing ads that are idea-based, but this one is really weird because it feels like it really wants to be a Gap ad.
What a thing to aspire to.

Honda "Another milestone" (2016) :30 (USA)

Honda has a new Civic Couple out. And apparently it’s breaking all rules and looks different enough that people are stopping to photograph it. I’m amazed they still make two door sedans, to be honest.

HelloFlo & Poise- Leaks Can't Stop Me Now (2016) 2:30 (USA)

HelloFlo & Poise- Leaks Can't Stop Me Now (2016) 2:30 (USA)
Directed by Trish Sie who directed the OK Go Zero gravity video and the original viral dancing on treadmills which became a widely copied phenomena, this music video / ad for Poise celebrates motherhood with humor. With lyrics like: “I didn’t push sweet babies out of this vag to be sneakin; around like a stray cat just cuz I am leakin…” and an awfully sticky refrain “Honey we can kick this dribble to its knees. Stop, cock a hip, squeeze. . . and sneeeeeeze.” this song encourages women to pad up and face the music. Or Zumba-class as it may be. Because one in three women will have a little postpartum incontinence and it should not stop you from enjoying life. “So I popped out a baby or two, don’t make me shy don’t wreck my mood!”

I just wish it had better lighting as the colours seem so washed out, which is a real shame in the homage to Robert Palmer. The “addicted to love” ladies group singing into pads while dressed in all white is hilarious, but it wold have upped the ante to have dramatic lighting and saturated shadows in that scene to look more 80s like the original. “Before we were moms, we were tight we were pert. But now one in three of us deals with the SQUIRT! Well it ain’t eighteen-fifty anymore, so line your panties grab your dance shoes, and head on out the door!”

Hyundai "Glasses" (2016) :30 (USA)

Glasses, how much is a chinchilla? New does definitely does not equal better here. Ha.

Hyundai "Hoverboard" (2016) :30 (USA)

Just ’cause it’s new doesn’t mean it’s better. Which reminds me, I saw more than a few hipsters at my last shop rolling around on these. And by “rolling around,” I mean “balancing badly and falling.”

Hyundai Elantra "Skip" (2016) :15 (USA)

Oh so the guy is driving but also trying to skip the ad. Luckily he stops in time to avoid hitting people. Love the premise of trying to skip a pre-roll but not the premise of almost hitting people.

Hyundai "Not just new: better" (2016) :30 (USA)

New vintage records. loool. Hyundai’s not just new but better.

#OneMoreDay "Unanswered" (2016) 1:30 (USA)

According to the stats a school shooting happens every thirteen days. In one long steadicam shot, this spot captures the sobering reality of school shootings, but does it in a way that is more suggestive than exploitive. While at the beginning the first person looks like they are asleep at their desk it is only at the end does the camera swing around to reveal the people in the classroom are bodies, Meanwhile their phones are ringing off the hook from frightened parents trying to reach them. Powerful stuff.

Oberto "X-Ray Glasses" (2016) :12 (USA)

Rob Gronkowski and Richard Sherman talk abotu stuff while eating jerky. In this case they talk about whether their X-Ray Glasses work.

Oberto "Chinese Vase" (2016) :30 (USA)

I which Rob Gronkowski and Richard Sherman sit around eating jerky and talk about stuff. In this case, they talk about Chinese Vases. Why do I feel like I need to be high to enjoy this?