Embarrassing ads
When I think of embarrassing ads, I’m hard-pressed to find better examples than the ones I’m about to show you. These have to be embarrassing, for both the viewer and the people in them.
And when I think of people who’ve embarrassed themselves plenty in corny ads, it pains me to say that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s at the top of that list. I like him. As a bodybuilder, he had what I think is the perfect physique. As an actor, he had his strengths and weaknesses, and did very well in his movie genre. And as a governor, he’s doing a pretty good job.
But boy, are these ads of his duds, or what? I’m talking, of course, about the Japanese commercials he and other American celebrities have done during the past decades. I understand there was big money in that stuff, but I have to wonder how you can live with yourself after doing one of these…
Here’s Arnie in some ads for a strange vitamin drink. Get a load of that crazy laughter of his… Oy, vey…
He wasn’t the only one though. I managed to find ads done by Michael J. Fox and Charles Bronson. Yeah, these made me cringe as well. I like Michael J. Fox and respect him. I’m embarrassed for him when I see this ad.
Then there’s Charles Bronson’s ad — a real piece of work… He’s advertising some sort of men’s cologne for “lovers”, but the ad makes him look more in love with himself than with any woman…
Here are more Japanese ads from Schwarzenegger. These aren’t as bad as the ones above, but they’re still strange. In the first, he flexes with… tea kettles.
In the next, he advertises what I guess is a beer, but there’s that big, fake, corny smile again…
In this one, he’s dressed in full samurai garb, and partakes in an… instant noodle soup ceremony.
What is it about Japanese ads and American celebrities? I don’t get it. Why are celebs so willing to humiliate themselves over there? Is it for the extra money? Is that it?
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
Follow my posts. It's easy and free.
The seller was going to send it by priority mail but I requested...
[...] Japan: most of us know that public conduct there has been driven by very strict rules, for as long as history holds. For the most part, it still is. Everyone’s supposed to be proper and dignified. The very regimented lifestyle, and lack of personal space, I might add, leads to the desire to escape it all, to do something completely different. Hence, Japanese humor and comedy focuses on the absurd, on the unlikely, on the odd, the weird, etc. If I’d gotten this sooner, I wouldn’t have asked why Japanese ads are so embarrassing a while back. Now I understand, and I can begin to enjoy it. [...]
Pingback — July 13, 2007 @ 5:59 pm