Commercials

Before I get to a big wedding update post I thought I would first start by describing two commercials that have been bothering me.

First commercial

• Context - A barber is upset about a big chain moving in across the street offering $6 haircuts. How is he going to compete with those prices?
• End result - 6 months later - There is a shot of him hanging up a "We Fix $6 Haircuts Sign" as you look across the street at For Rent sign on the big chain haircut place. The barber is happy.
• How did he get there? Well the solution to this barber's problem was of course at Office Depot. He was able to save costs and help differentiate himself from his competitor.
• Recap - In order to defeat a big box competitor that is offering lower prices you need to go to a big box retailer that is offering lower prices. Of course. Does anybody at Office Depot understand the irony of this ad? I mean they are the big box retailer (not much different than the big box haircut place in their ad) that tries to knock off the mom and pop shops across the street with lower prices. All together this is a really weird ad.

Second commercial - Folgers

I love Folgers ads. In fact I think if you asked 10 people walking down Nicollet Ave to complete the following sentence "The best part of waking up..." then 9 out of 10 would say "is Folgers in your cup." The one ad where the guy comes home for Christmas and immediately puts on a pot of coffee that wakes up his sister is a classic. However, their last ad is something I do not understand. Let me try to recap it for you.

Scenes of the commercial-

• An older guy scoops out some coffee to start a pot.
• A 25-35 year old woman wakes up with what some might call a "hangover" face.
• She goes downstairs and the guy (her father) says something like "You sure stayed out late last night."
• She responds explaining how she isn't sixteen again.
• He comes back with a "It still was a late night."
• She then surprises everyone by showing how her hand now has an engagement ring on it. This is accompanied by her remarking "You don't have to worry about that anymore."
• Then for the final surprise the father says "I know. I talked to *Jeff last week."

*I forgot his name. It could be Jeff.

Main questions

• Why is this older woman still living at home? Or is she visiting for the holidays? Did she just get fired and needed a place to move into?
• Why on the night of her engagement did she stay out all night? Obviously she eventually made it back home, so it isn't like she spent the night with her new fiance. Did she get engaged and then go out clubbing? These are answers I need when I see someone who looks to be hungover after she got engaged.
• Why does the father not have to worry about his daughter now that she is engaged? Is that how it works? Once you are married then all responsibility falls on the husband and not the father? It made me think that the father was passing the woman off to the husband in a very *un-progressive move by Folgers.
• Finally the 3rd surprise is kind of creepy. The father was obviously asked by the woman's fiance, but what father responds to her daughter's engagement with a "I know." No congratulations. No excitement. Is this father just happy to pawn off have his alcoholic, unemployed, stays out too late daughter to the sucker who decided to propose to her?

*I don't think "un-progressive" is a word, but I like it anyway.