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8. Doritos, “Mouse Trap”
The Doritos Mouse Trap commercial was made by independent filmmakers for the Doritos, “Make Your Own Commercial” contest. It was a finalist but not the winner and Doritos ended up airing it anyway, which was for the best, as it’s far, far better than the awfully acted, “Crystal Ball Being Thrown At Testicles” ad that did win.
The Doritos contest gives me mixed feelings. On one hand, they’re giving filmmakers the chance to shine. On the other, Doritos is using thousands and thousands of people to make them a commercial for which they will end up paying very little for. It’s a clever marketing ploy — get attention from the contest and then have people make you a commercial — but there’s something faintly exploitive there that irritates me. Luckily, Doritos offered a significant sum of money — unlike many other companies, whose reward is often, “…and we’ll put the winner on TV!” — which is great and all, but that winner deserves being paid as much as you’d actually pay a production crew.
Somewhere, I started to rant. Let’s steer this back to the commercial…
…which was perfectly timed, perfectly acted and bizarre enough to make it hilarious. Bravo. I hope this launched your careers, fellow filmmakers.
7. Budweiser, “What are YOU doing?!”
What are YOU doing?!
A parody of the at-first-amusing-but-then-eye-gougingly-irritating, “Wassaaaap?!” commercials, the yuppy version is funnier and not quite as annoying. It partially made my list because it still somehow manages to be quotable, and partially because it’s a simply-made commercial with a very easy satirical premise and, well… again, it’s funny.
The Wasssaaaap/What are YOU doing? commercials are almost iconic of the decade — not in any political or conscious way, just that almost everyone remembers them. Do we remember they’re advertising Budweiser? Not particularly. But they do remind us of a simpler time, pre-9/11, when a couple of fellows can endlessly quote “Wasaaap” to one another until they cursed the day that commercial was ever created.
Ah, memories.
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