commercials Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I posted earlier today on Joystiq that a new TV commercial for the role-playing game World of Warcraft hit the airwaves on Monday, which of course means it hit YouTube about .0815 seconds later. I'm waiting for the day that things come out on YouTube before they reach TV or the big screen. YouTube will become self-aware and telepathic and rule the world one day. You think Terminator was just a movie? SkyNet is YouTube, silly rabbit.

Oh, look ... we've veered back on-topic. This commercial features footage from Office Space with everyone's favorite cubicle-slacker Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) playing WoW while Bill Lundbergh (Gary Cole) tries to talk to him about TPS reports. Originally in the scene, Peter was playing Tetris, but they've stuck this footage in pretty seamlessly. Look how they've even littered his desk with the Warcraft box and game discs.

The ad works here because Office Space isn't generally considered a "classic", but how long until companies really screw up something that Cinemaniacs will cry sacrilege over? Come to think of it, it's already happened several times. We've had Gene Kelly selling Volkswagens, Steve McQueen pushing Mustangs, and Elton John plugging Diet Coke with Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, and Louis Armstrong. The recent Gap commercial starring Audrey Hepburn was funky and fun, but I found myself wondering what she'd think about it. It's hard to imagine that she would be thrilled. Will Apple use Citizen Kane to sell iPods? Matthew Broderick hawking new computers in WarGames? Okay, that last one probably wouldn't really bother me, but when does it end? At what point is too much just too much?


Check out these ads after the jump and let us know what you think.

Pharmaceutical juggernaut Roche is using the upcoming CGI film Happy Feet as a vehicle to tell people to get flu shots. According to a press release from Roche, "Happy Feet presents a wholesome storyline in a wintery backdrop that serves as an ideal platform for communicating to consumers, especially moms, about the flu."

Roche will be tying in with the film through TV, print, and online spots, meaning it'll be hard to avoid this sucker. I'm still having trouble deciding if this is a great idea, or a potentially bad idea. I know it's a good thing to be informing the public about flu shots, especially for the young and the elderly, but what comes next? Will we see Mickey and Minnie touting the latest children's cough medicine? Shrek showing everyone the benefits of dental hygiene and a new mouthwash? Statler and Waldorf plugging for adult incontinence products?

It's one thing to use a good opportunity to inform the public, but it's a bit different when you're using it to help your bottom line. Roche manufactures a flu shot, so of course they'd be interested in having more people line up to get them. It's not the first time a studio has used their characters to sell products, but as far as I can remember it's the first time a pharmaceutical company has gotten involved in the process.

It might seem far fetched now, but imagine your child's favorite character talking to them about some new wonderpill, and it's a bit scary.