Bizarrely, though, it could be read as a straight ad FOR 4x4s with all the office workers expressing jealousy rather than disdain for the guy. It reminds me of that lip-reading ad (was it for Mercedes?) where you could lip read through the windshield that people were calling you a bastard for owning such a fine car. So it's a tactic car ads have used to sell before. I guess my question is does this Greenpeace ad stay too close to the style of the ads its sending up, to the point where it becomes one of them?
Honestly, if you changed the end frame and line to:
the Mistubishi Pajero. Creates jealousy.
or the Mitsubishi Pajero. You'll learn to get used to the envy.
Or whatever, and then maybe stuck on a happy driving shot, you'd have a perfectly all right ad FOR a 4x4.
Dude I totally hear you. We want some official recognition of the results of our concerted efforts to mangle the perfectly serviceable English language and we want it now!
Pending "concepting" being accepted, can I suggest we all start using "ideate" and "imagineer", as elegant alternatives? Then we can start a campaign for them too.
Ok -prize of A Life given to whoever can accurately count ( to the nearest million, perhaps?) the number of ad campaigns that have used "live your life" or some variation on that line, as a sign off.
Am I the only one fed up with being told that every moment I'm not crowd surfing at a rock gig, or having sex, or elaborately tricking men into thinking I'm going to have sex with them and then in an "empowering" finale NOT having sex with them, I'm not "living my life"?
Although, come to think of it, that does about cover 78% of my time, as I rarely sleep, never have to get the plumber in to fix my leaky toilet and am way too cool to sit on my arse watching TV, eating snacks covered in cheese dust, with the highlight of my week beiong the day that there's cold pizza left over for breakfast.
Must dash, there's LIFE to be LIVED.
For those who aren't aware - this spot features 3 well known characters - the abovementioned Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Ricky's writing partner (the guy watching) and Karl Pilkington, the ex-producer of Stephen and Ricky's radio show who has recently been catapulted to cult superstardom following a series of 12 free podcasts the three of them did for the Guardian.
These podcasts were massively successful, especially in the UK, in fact I believe they will be featured in the new Guinness Book of Records as the most downloaded/listened to/popular podcast of all time (ok, so podcasts haven't been around that long...).
So while the ad of itself isn't really much to shout about, it is done in the style of their show which gives it a little more of a point. I think in the context of the recently completed and very funny podcast, getting the three of them to do it for charity showed someone had their finger, not just up their arse, but also on the pulse.
If you're an Office fan or are just curious, you can download the more recent of the podcasts here I think: http://www.guardian.co.uk/rickygervais
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