Maybe Hillary should learn how to assemble an AR-15 rifle blindfolded

For those who haven't yet seen this brilliant ad by Jason Kander, a former Army captain who fought in Afghanistan, who is running against Roy Blount in the Missouri Senate race, it is a must see:



[H/T Balloon Juice]

Kander, who is a Democrat, created the ad in response to Blount and the NRA calling him weak on Second Amendment rights. (Meanwhile numerous polls have shown that approximately 90 percent of Americans support gun control measures, including expanded background checks.)

The good news is, you don't need to know how to assemble a rifle in order to stop Donald Trump from becoming President (though it probably wouldn't hurt Hillary Clinton if she could). You apparently just need a vagina.



[H/T, again, to Balloon Juice]

Women outnumber men in the United States and more women than men have voted in recent elections. (See this and this and this.) So ladies, if we want to send Trump back to his Tower, go out and vote for Hillary on November 8th. And bring along your husband -- or boyfriend or brother or male neighbor -- and have him vote for Hillary, too.

EXTRA EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT!  For those not keeping score, here is a handy cheat sheet of Donald Trump's various scandals. Also, be sure to check out the Cosmo interview with Ivanka Trump on her/her father's maternity leave policy, which is quite an eye opener (for those who had their eyes closed, fantasizing about Trump's busty blonde eldest daughter).

Of course, none of this -- or any facts -- is going to change the minds of Trump supporters or Hillary haters. But I felt like it was time to chime in.

I find this Audi S7 ad highly illogical

So for those of you who do not own a television, do not browse the Internet, or read entertainment magazines or a newspaper, the new Star Trek movie, Into Darkness, comes out May 17. And car maker Audi has put its tie-in advertising for the new Audi S7 into warp drive.

Just like the original Star Trek series and the Star Trek movies, Audi's latest ad, "Zachary Quinto [the new Mr. Spock] vs. [original Mr. Spock] Leonard Nimoy: The Challenge" combines futuristic technology and humor to create something... fascinating. Or just downright bizarre.



[H/T to Another David S. for sending me this video. Live long and prosper, cuz.]

I love the bit at the end where Nimoy gives Quinto the Vulcan nerve pinch.

As amusing (or interesting) as the ad may be, though, Audi seems to have forgotten the famous Spock quote, "After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true."

Bonus points to anyone (other than Dave S.) who knows what song Leonard Nimoy is singing as he drives to the club.

Anyone?

Time's up. It's "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins," which you can see right here:



You're welcome.

Remember when you knew what ads were advertising?

So one of my current favorite ads is the Volkswagen ad with the two guys going on a road trip where one of the guys decides it would be fun to learn Spanish, instead of listening to music.



[This ad cracks me up every time -- probably because I've been brushing up on my French and wish all it took was a long car ride to sound fluent.]

The problem is that despite seeing the ad several times, I had no idea which car Volkswagen was advertising (turns out, the Passat). And I was more inspired to buy a language-learning CD than I was a car. Which, if the purpose of the ad was to sell me a car, means the ad failed. (Though, to borrow a phrase from my daughter, it was not an "epic fail.")

Now not that I buy stuff based on ads, but back in the day, at least ya knew what was being advertised. Today? Not so much. While there are lots of witty/clever ads out there, how many of you when you see a commercial remember what was being advertised a few hours -- heck, a few minutes -- later?

Call me an old fart, but I still remember Star-Kist and Charlie the Tuna.



["Sorry Charlie. Star-Kist doesn't want tunas with good taste. Star-Kist wants tunas that tastes good!"]

And I can still sing "Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don't upset us," the old Burger King song. (Though I preferred McDonald's burgers and fries.)



Also, all anyone has to do is sing "meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow," and I immediately think Meow Mix!



And I have a sneaking feeling these ads for Dr. Pepper, featuring David Naughton, may have been partially responsible for my Dr. Pepper addiction.



Anyone else a Pepper?

I could go on and on, but I'd like to open the floor to all of you. Which classic ads do you miss? And do you think advertisers do a better job today of selling stuff on TV or not so much? Leave me a comment.

Top 3 Super Bowl XLV ads

Come on, admit it, half (or three-quarters) of the reason you watch the Super Bowl is for the ads. As per usual, most of this year's Super Bowl ads disappointed. (Actually, I thought this year's Super Bowl ads SUCKED -- and were needlessly violent, creepy, and/or inappropriate or offensive.) But I felt these three were blog worthy.

First up, Volkswagen's "The Force" ad for the Passat (which has over 13 million views on YouTube, over 12.7 million of which were before the Big Game):



[Click here to see a short interview with the boy who would be Vader, who looks exactly like a young Luke Skywalker.]

Next, even though I am neither a Justin Bieber nor an Ozzy Osborne fan, I thought this Best Buy spot was amusing:



But perhaps my favorite Super Bowl ad (which I'm not 100 percent sure actually aired during the Super Bowl) is Old Spice's new Scent Vacation ad featuring the Man Your Man Could Smell (but Probably Never Look) Like, Isaiah Mustafa.



[I don't care if this ad is basically like all the other Isaiah Mustafa Old Spice ads, I still like it.]

Honorable mentions to Bud Light, Volkswagen (the Black Beetle ad), and to CarMax (though the spouse thought it was "a lame commercial").

FYI, to see more Super Bowl XLV ads, and how they rate, go here.

I'll have whatever they're grilling

It took me a few viewings (and, okay, the spouse saying "it's an ad for Weber grills") to realize this ad was for Weber grills*, I was so distracted by all the dancing and the booty-shaking song playing in the background:




I don't know what those people are grilling, but whatever it is, I'll have what they're having.

For the record, we have both a Weber gas grill and a Weber charcoal grill, but neither, despite the delicious food they produce, has had me dancing around our deck or slapping a spatula on my booty.

UPDATED: I love how on the Weber Grills page on Facebook fans have posted pictures of their Weber grills -- just the grills. Smokin'.

*I thought it was another Black Eyed Peas type ad for Target.

Four best Super Bowl XLIV ads

Good Super Bowl (congrats to the New Orleans Saints), not so good ads. Still a few (or should I say "four") of the ads really stood out, in terms of their creative humor, such as...

this ad for McDonald's with LeBron James, Dwight Howard, and Larry Byrd:



(Great ad, but I still have a soft spot for the original McDonald's basketball shooting contest featuring Larry Bird and Michael Jordan.)

We also got a kick out of the Snickers ad featuring Betty White and Abe Vigoda (who is still not dead):



And I got a chuckle out of the FloTV ad featuring CBS sportscaster Jim Nance:



But our favorite Super Bowl XLIV commercial had to be this promo for "Late Show with David Letterman," featuring David Letterman, Oprah, and Jay Leno:



Got a favorite Super Bowl XLIV ad, which I didn't include? Let me know via a Comment.

Super Bowl ads (sneak peek) + Great ads, lousy beer

This Sunday, as (almost) all of you know is Super Bowl XLIV (or 44 for all you non Romans), which can mean only one thing: lots and lots of ridiculously expensive and ridiculous ads. But I bet you didn't know there was a website dedicated just to Super Bowl ads. The site's name/URL? Superbowl-ads.com.

And right now, if you go to Superbowl-ads.com, you can see previews of many of this year's Super Bowl ads, some of which look to be very funny. (Being a former big-time Chicago Bulls basketball fan, I am particularly intrigued, and a bit saddened by, the remake of the Michael Jordan - Larry Bird McDonald's ad, now starring LeBron James and Dwight Howard.)

And, of course, it wouldn't be the Super Bowl without lots of Bud and Bud Light ads. Which only makes me wonder: How can a company that makes such great ads make such lousy beer? Seriously, just imagine what the real men of genius behind Bud Light could have accomplished had they poured the same amount of money they do into advertising into developing a light beer that actually tasted good.

In fact, some of my (and the spouse's) favorite commercials of late have been for Bud Light. (Those Tailgate Tested, Tailgate Approved! ads crack me up.) And I think Bud Light's ad agency (in this case DDB Chicago, which also produced the Real Men of Genius campaign) may have outdone itself with this latest ad, titled "Clothing Drive":



[Hats -- shirt and pants -- off to DDB Chicago associate creative director Galen Graham.]

I also really like DDB's Bud Light ad titled "Swear Jar":



Though really, you're going to spend all that money on a case of Bud Light? Aren't there, oh, at least 100 other, better beers you could be buying?

ANYWAY... Here's to a great Super Bowl -- and lots of great Super Bowl ads.

Holy financial tomfoolery, Batman! These new LendingTree commercials sure are clever.

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na... LendingTree!?

I realize I am dating myself (sort of), but I can't help giggling every time I see -- or rather hear -- the new "You to the Rescue" ads for LendingTree.com (click the link to get your very own LendingTree utility belt, kids!), featuring the voice of Adam West doing his best Batman/Bruce Wayne impression. To quote the critics: "SOCK!" "POW!" "ZOK!"





These West/LendingTree ads remind me a bit of those William Shatner/Priceline ads, though I don't know how they could possibly top this particular Shatner/Priceline ad (which I so should have included in my "Bust a Move" post).



Hope this post put a smile on your face. Now get back to work! (How did people procrastinate before YouTube and blogs and Facebook?)

Something stinks about AT&T's new Valentine's Day ad

Pepe Le Pew has sold out, to AT&T. Et tu, Pepe? I know times are tough for everyone, but this stinks.

I loved Pepe Le Pew growing up. He was one of my favorite cartoon characters (along with Marvin the Martian) on TV. So I was very upset to see the little skunk hawking the new Samsung Propel for AT&T. P U.

Even more disturbing is how AT&T has turned Penelope Pussycat into a brazen hussy, when everyone knows she typically tried to avoid Pepe like the plague.



What's up with that? What's next, Sherman and Mr. Peabody hawking IBM supercomputers?

And speaking of things that stink: I deleted my blog post on the new tell-all book by the Manhattan Madam, the woman who ran the "escort service" Eliot Spitzer used. (Though do check out her site to find out how much you are worth per hour!) A key piece of information was incorrect (I thought the book was written by Ashlee Dupre, the woman who brought Eliot Spitzer down, literally), and the real story wasn't nearly as exciting or titillating.