Checking the industry blogs this morning I came across a truly odd bit of local TV advertising from Detroit for a cross-dressing exterminator on Adfreak. Now there have been many local spots that feature the business owner. Here in New York, Tom Carvel’s hard as gravel voice was the perfect foil for his soft ice cream. Mrs. Potamkin in her furs just dripped nouveau riche as she, and the family, appeared in spots for their Cadillac dealership (speaking of Cadillac, Republic of T has a recent post on their advertising that while lengthy, is quite interesting even if as an ad exec I don't believe it captures either the reality or the true madness of the business).
In any case, here we have the distinct pleasure of Mr. Harris, owner of this pest control service, selling his services while appearing in drag. In a way that appears completely random. No connection to the sell at all. And no connection to the call to action at the end of the spot. That said, here I am not only writing about it, but linking to it, which is something any advertiser wants — free additional publicity that stems from paid advertising. Of course, the problem for Mr. Harris is that I don’t believe I have any readers in Detroit. And since I live in NYC I cannot avail myself of his services or his fashion advice.
As I mentioned, I came across this spot on Adfreak, which is a blog I check regularly as a creative advertising professional. But Adfreak found the spot on Consumerist (a site I ought to be looking at regularly) which in turn found it on YouTube (of course). Such is the archaeology of this particular link. A sort of 6 degrees of link separation on the web can connect you to anyone on the planet now. This continues to amaze me on a daily basis regardless of how commonplace it is. My reaction is probably a function of my generational cohort, which is a euphemistic way of saying I’m old.
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