It's fitting that this spot talks about antiques, given that AT&T has now dragged out the same joke so many times that they've forgotten to use it in a context that even makes sense.
What? Look, I get the joke here - "ha ha, these minutes are so old!" - but it was never more than mildly amusing to begin with, and now it's just tiresome. In addition, the garage sale context is nonsense, because you can't sell your old minutes to other people. That isn't how phones work. I don't think AT&T is trying to suggest that you can... but would it have been difficult to make another ad that used a premise that, you know, works? I guess they couldn't have gotten away with showing the kid wiping his ass with the old minutes, but I'm pretty sure there are other possibilities.
Negative bonus points for a cringe-inducing reference to the current economic climate in terms so generic that AT&T will no doubt pull this one out of the archives for each of the next five recessions. Maybe their next ad can cover every last base for the next century:
Mom: Junior, what are you doing?
Kid: Aw, Mom, I'm just getting rid of these old credits for my personal communication device!
Mom: Don't you dare, Mister - we exchanged something for those old credits and with AT&T, we can continue to use them on our communication devices even now!
Delightfully non-specific. And then you can always just edit in a final scene that refers to whichever alien civilization is invading at the time.
I liked the first spot they did with this concept, the "milky minutes" one. But yeah, this is getting old. Also, do people generally respond well to familial bickering? That's not so much comedy as it is uncomfortable and annoying.
ReplyDeleteThose 6 month old minutes are antiques! I wonder what hyperbole would describe the staleness of this commercial's premise.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember the company but some cell phone service provider is running a commercial with a woman and a guy riding a bicycle. The woman is in the front. Her underarm hair is streaming out behind her into the face of the guy. She is saying something about unnatural cell phone charges. Really, I couldn't follow what she was saying.
ReplyDeleteIt's for Boost mobile. Man, what a gross image. Must be hard to be like the #8 cell phone provider.
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