Advertising can be fun(ny)

A long time ago, I used to work in radio.  In addition to being on air as a DJ, I also wrote, produced and voiced radio ads.  As a music geek, comedian and someone who enjoys radio if it's done well (which it usually isn't, but IMHO, Los Angeles has a great commercial station, a fantastic public radio station, and Jim Ladd's weeknightly rock odyssey on another station) I approached radio advertising as a necessary evil.  Stations have to pay their bills (and their employees) so, they're going to run ads.  As long as it's something that has to be done, it may as well be enjoyable for the listener, as well as something that's fun to make.  And if the listener stays tuned in for the ads I made, I'm happy, the station's owners are happy, and most importantly, the advertiser is happy.

Occasionally, you'd get a client that made you spin your wheels; coming up with several concepts, writing scripts and sometimes even production samples, only to decide to go with a simple read over a music bed.  In one such case, I used George Benson's cover of "This Masquerade" as the music bed, fading the music up after the copy was read, so the first line of the song, "Are we really happy here . . . " was the last thing you heard in the ad.  Not so surprisingly, the client didn't notice.  They were just happy with the success of their little power play.  Again, everybody wins.  The client is happy, which makes the station's owners happy, and I get to keep my job while essentially insulting an ignorant bastard in the public square on their dime.

So when I see an ad like the billboard campaign for the movie Tropic Thunder, in which Robert Downey Jr. plays an actor who undergoes a controversial process to make him look like an African-American, I do a little happy dance inside.  I know how closely studios scrutinize advertising materials, but I also know about the politics that go into the order stars are billed on these materials as well.  So, is this an example of something the studios overlooked in order to please the three stars of the movie?  Is it an example of a vengeful art director along the lines of a rumored phallic symbol in the art for the Disney release The Little Mermaid?  I couldn't tell you.  But I can tell you that I'm amazed no one else has caught on to this yet.

In other news, President Bush spoke out against Russia's incursion into Georgia, adding that if the Russians make it to Atlanta, they're Ted Turner's problem.