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January 14, 2009

Dead and loving it?

At some point, maybe on the shoot, maybe in the edit, someone surely worried, at least a little, about the rotting-flesh-green look of these characters. A worry quickly rationalized away by the concept. "They're money," someone offered. "People will get it." And we do get it. Problem is, I'm personally too busy wondering just how bad these guys smell and what larval stage the maggots must be in to find them charming or remember the brand. As a counterpoint, a friend argues that these guys are iconic Tivo-busters. So. Money or not?

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Comments

I'm digging the ads. They crack me up. But you're right about not remembering the brand. Is it for H&R Block? TurboTax? I forget... hmmm...

I think there's a lot more wrong here than just the zombified money guys. These ads could have been subtle, clever and surreal. "Arrested Development" with dead patriots, if you please. Instead, it's chock full of clientspeak and obvious dialog.

A worry quickly rationalized away by the AE. Yeah, I felt a little zombie thing working there too. I get the money thing brought to life, but the color/aging thing in the execution made it feel ancient.

Still not as creepy as the Feed The Pig spot though.

The *first* thing I thought about when I saw this spot was how much of a pain in the ass that make-up must've been. The second thing I thought about was the green-faced Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz. And the third thing I thought about was getting a sandwich since I was pretty hungry at the time. And by that point, I couldn't even remember what they were trying to get me to buy.

"In life, I was your partner, Jacob Marley."

Weak. Not only do the dead presidents look like rotting corpses, they don't make a single strong joke, either.

And does anybody else wish that Turbo Tax's versions of Franklin, Jackson and Grant used accents that the actual historical figures might have? Maybe it's just me, but I'd take a British-sounding Ben Franklin over that pseudo-nerd in the commercial any day of the week.

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