Today’s entry is literary. That is to say, it has to do with writing. Not literary writers, necessarily. Not authors.
Writers.
There are plenty of them out there that have nothing to do with books or publishing or creating a leather-bound legacy that might one day become the Great American Novel.
I’m talking commercials, here.
As in: TV.
Unfortunately (for the writers) the general public is widely unaware of who is behind the good (and the bad). Right now, I’m thinking about the new spot for 7*Up Ten, a reduced calorie soft drink that is being sold despite the failure of the factory chemists to eliminate those last nine pesky calories. Okay. I can try it over my One-Calorie soft drink. I’ll burn those other nine calories off somewhere. Maybe I can do it while yawning.
The commercial has Mom and Dad fawning over their purchase of a box of 7*Up Ten, the Most-Amazing-Thing-They-Have-Ever-Seen. In the background, their little baby is moonwalking, doing hand-stands, and You-Think-You-Can-Dance-Level dancing.
I don’t laugh out loud, which is probably the result of my upbringing. When I saw this spot on TV, I almost did. To keep it in perspective, I almost laughed out loud at the chase scene in the action-adventure movie The Package, starring Jason Statham. He was chasing a car through an unfamiliar area while riding a little bicycle. He managed to smash it through a glass door and time it perfectly to crash into the driver’s seat of his stolen car. Bravo. (Chuckle.)
There are others, like the Allstate ads. These aren’t knee-slappers, exactly. No slapstick humor here. Strictly situational. Maybe you’ve seen the one with the Allstate Mayhem Man appearing as a rambunctious toddler in the back seat, yelling – mommy.
“Mommy!” he shouts. “MommyMommyMommy!”
He pulls a drink from his sippy-cup and yells again.
Mommmmmyeeeee!
There are things thrown – maybe Cheerios. All accompanied by the continued shouts:
Mommmmyeeee!
No doubt, it’s just me. But I can easily envision the energetic child behind that Allstate Mayhem Man. In another ad, he disguises himself as a college flag, and as a poorly-installed TV satellite dish in another. Still, he’s the Mayhem Man. Those writers are hitting more than they are missing. The kid-in-the-backseat-of-the-minivan commercial works for me everytime.
Some are the result of writing-teams. Others are solo-shots. Unfortunately, there isn’t really a front-and-center Award Show Recognition like the Emmys or the Grammys or the Oscars that gives credit to these writers. I’m not sure about the category specifics, but there ought to be some publicity for those behind Seven*Up Ten, the Allstate ads, and the like. Some local groups give out “Addys” to winning commercials, but there is no Oscar-scale presentation.
As many commercials as we are exposed to, you’d think someone would sponsor a show.
And run commercials throughout.
