Some commercials are annoying. Some are outright embarrassments to anyone who has even attempted to act. Some — JSM — are both.
Television ads for certain products, especially for medicines or so-called biologics, make you wonder who skimmed off the production budget, because there’s no way the client got their money’s worth.
Let’s start with the commercial for Jardiance that features a band director just a little too into marching onto the field with her high schoolers. Hips sway, arms swing, she’s totally in control. We’re to believe her Type 2 diabetes is under control as well.
The commercial’s director decided a ground-level shot of the band would make the ad more interesting, and in most circumstances that would be true. But the shot captures the band marching onto the field, and John Philip Sousa must be turning over in his grave at how out of step these kids are.
The band director may be On It — per the slogan — but if her diabetes is being managed as well as the band’s routines, well….
Next is the “aww-ahh-ee-ahh” band for Humira, whose singer battles a serious intestinal disorder. It seems an odd career choice for someone whose condition is not yet being treated.
But let’s not discriminate. Musicians do get sick like the rest of us. It’s just that the whole storyboard and script for this travesty would be preposterous if no one in the band were debilitated.
In the alleged recording studio, the musicians are too close together, their mics are not properly filtered — the singer’s microphone definitely would pick up the drumming — and the keyboardist can’t see the rest of the band, until she is shocked and dismayed that the vocalist is heading for the loo.
And what band takes the stage without their singer unless she’s supposed to bounce out at a dramatic point in the song? Just standing around in front of a crowd?? Stage managers and crew would never let that happen, even if the band was naive enough to try.
Both of these ads are embarrassing because somebody convinced the suits somewhere that TV-watchers in America have no idea what goes on at high schools or at concerts.
The ads that drip into the Annoying Bucket usually involve clichéd characters, especially ones who appear in a continuing series — a continuing saga, if you will — and whose character development is cringe-worthy.
Progressive Insurance has Jamie. Liberty Mutual Insurance has Doug.
Ugh.
Here’s my overarching point:
Hard-working actors can and do use commercials as springboards into steadier gigs, especially actors whose recurring characters have some humanity to them.
Melanie Paxson (zillions of commercials, especially FiberOne), Milana Vayntrub (Lily of AT&T) and Morgan Smith (the red-haired Wendy’s salad spokeswoman) come to mind. I’m sure you recognize them. They’ve made the leap.
Commercial actors such as these get 60, 30 or even 15 seconds at a time to let their character skills be known and shown. When the character is ridiculous — I still feel sad for the Big Lots! human exclamation point woman — when the character is a joke, then whoever portrays Liberty-Bibberty Struggling Actor will remain just that.
Actors already struggle too much.
