A Commercial Break

Lego



Someone called Santander has sponsored a television advert for Lego. It looks like an expensive ad, too. They've even paid for Lewis Hamilton to appear in it. It works well, I really like the Lego bridge they make, I wonder where you can get one?

But why have they made this Lego advert, do they own Lego or shares in Lego? But then why would they put their own logo on it rather than the Lego logo? And what on on earth is the man talking about in the background? I mean, these people are building an amazing bridge out of Lego, and a really famous motor racing driver is helping them, you think he would have something to say about that, right? But no, he seems to have the script for some corporate induction video.

Lastly, who are Santander and why are they on my television?


Renault



Renault have made an advert about cars. Which is unusual for a car-maker these days. A man with a mildly aggressive voice asks lots of questions over video clips from the We Got That B-Roll car library, "Is it still acceptable that some of us can drive, while others barely have the means to get around?" he complains, over videos of a poor man pulling a hand cart, and a lorry full of people in a third world country. It turns out later that the advert is for some electric cars.

How the electric cars help the poor man pulling the cart or the people in the back of the lorry in the third world country to suddenly have a means to get around is not explained. Maybe they have shares in the power stations that could be providing the electricity for the electric cars, and so will get rich from the increased electricity needed, and be able to buy themselves a nice electric car?

Later in the film (we can call it a film, because it's almost as long as Apocalypse Now) the aggressive man reveals, "From next year, Renault will launch a range of zero emission vehicles, to drive the car forward again, towards people".

Now, I don't know about you, but to me that sounds a bit dangerous. For a start, these electric cars a really quiet, so if they're going to start driving them forwards towards people, potentially there could be a lot of accidents. If I looked around and found that someone was driving their car towards me, I'm not sure I'd be too bothered whether it was powered by electricity, diesel, or the milk from lactating pussy cats.

I'm not sure I'm in favour of Renualt's new range of aggressive electric cars, even if the nice people in the third world do have shares in the power station.

PS

Why is it a rule that all electric cars should look like cheaply made props from the movie Starship Troopers?

11 comments:

  1. ndar are a Spanish banking giant that have recently taken over a number of UK institutions such as Alliance & Leicester and Abbey National.

    More interesting than that though is this house that someone made out of Lego: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIwr-dyIsn8&feature=player_embedded

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  2. Sam, I think he was being facetious. It's a shockingly bad advert.

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  3. Santander is a huge bank firm from spain...and this is the president (true)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaLDoWqIq2M

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  4. I liked watching the Santander ad in the same way I enjoyed watching James May make a house out of Lego - lego is fun and I like the idea of it being used for life-size building, but I couldn't care less who Santander are.

    The Renault one actually made me laugh out loud, it makes absolutely no sense at all, it's like they absorbed loads of info about global warming, mixed it up and churned it all back out. The cars are damn ugly and I too was totally confused as to way their electric cars are different than any other car in that many people in third world countries, could still not afford one.

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  5. I'd like to ask Renault, when was it acceptable that some can drive and others barely have the means to get around?

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  6. The only think i dislike about the Renault ad is the crappy Keane music. Everything else makes sense to me. In a market where VW/Audi are pushing forward the precision/ efficiency message and BMW are whining on about joy, it's refreshing to see a company address driving from a more sustainable/ethical angle (if we are to believe what they're saying). Plus it's good to see them make a bold statement (releasing new electric cars) rather than being wishy washy about it. My only concern is that Renault aren't as forward thinking as their ad is suggesting.

    Totally agree on the Santander ad - what's going on there?

    Happy (is it only) Wednesday :-)

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  7. That Renault shite isn't an ad. It's a pile of abject corporate wank. Looks like Publicis spent much more time on their wonderful Christmas party video than they did on this glorified mood film. A minute and a half of utter cackbabble.

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  8. The Santander ad is the most confusing thing I've ever seen. like you say, lego??? Why lego? Why lewis hamilton? why isn't lewis hamilton driving the car? What is going on?!

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  9. Judging by the YouTube upload it's Renault's "brand vision". Whilst it might make a few people who work in admin at Renaul feel better about themselves, Joe Public the Driver ain't gonna give a shit. Total waste of money.

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  10. I think I get the santander ad, a simple warning about the dangers of putting too much faith in banks.
    Its the marriage of the 2 most wreckless professions on earth, Banking and Motor Racing.
    Santander claim to provide structure and support for your 'metaphorical journey' through life, by building a bridge to help you across dangers etc etc. But instead of making the bridge out of steel, and concrete they want to make it out of lego, and if that was enough crazyiness, this bridge has to be designed and built by a man whose purpose is to drive a car at 200mph round and round in circles.
    Its visual small print, or a warning, dont be surprised when it all comes crashing down.

    I think this ad says please helps us we don't know what we're doing.


    heres the treatment for their next ad

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2010/01/12/reckless-pair-take-car-for-spin-on-frozen-union-canal-and-have-to-be-rescued-when-car-sinks-86908-21961443/

    squa

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