It May Bee Nothing, But Is Jerry Losing It?
Fri, October 26, 2007 at 5:34AM
About a month ago, I was in a brainstorming session at a New York branding firm when one of its designers said the unspeakable: “I hate Seinfeld.” Disappointingly, I may be joining the club.
Early on, I thought Jerry Seinfeld’s shameless self-promotion for “Bee Movie” was funny. But the “shorts” on “30 Rock” unsettled me. And this new ad (see video above) for HP computers pushed me over the edge.
Un-bee-lievably, Jerry has even included a plug for his wife’s new book in the commercial. What’s the deal with that?
What I can’t figure out: Is “Bee Movie” a kids’ flick that’s designed to appeal to adults (like “The Incredibles”). Or an animated film for grown-ups that is supposed to appeal to kids (like, uh, I’m not sure)?
If Dreamworks isn’t careful, it could get stung with a $150-million bug bomb. And its third box-office disappointment in a row.
Reader Comments (2)
If you check out the other HP commercials you see that the self- promotion thing is part of the whole formulas for this campaign.
I personally think the whole thing is quite ingenious. We the viewer get our voyeuristic fix by seeing what celebrities have on their computer in all its choreographed psychedelic glory (ooooh, ahhhh). The celeb gets to plug their goods - which are allegedly created and stored on their powerful HP Computer. And HP probably gets to negotiate down the celebs fee in the process.
And hell, putting a commercial inside of a commercial, that's pretty innovative.
You have to admit that they're pretty entertaining - for commercials.
These are the kind of commercials that people are likely pausing their tivo to watch.
And did I mention that I hate advertising
Hey, Dunk. I loved the HP ads when they first started. (Sort of a 21st century "What's On Your Powerbook.") But they've degraded over time. The Seinfeld ad is just too blatant for my taste. And the over saturation of promotion for Bee Movie in ALL media was a huge turnoff. Same for Seinfeld's attitude, to be honest. Check out this clip from the Larry King show, for instance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZfUgVSfKdQ