When I hear the word "mayhem," the first thing I think about is the Norwegian black metal band. You know, the band where the singer killed himself and then the bass player/friend killed the guitarist? No? Well, read the book Lords of Chaos. It tells those stories, along with several more family favorites.
The second thing that comes to mind is Tommy Lee's terrible rap metal band Methods of Mayhem. It was such an abominable piece of shit that I won't waste any further commentary on it.
Third, and to the point, I think of the Allstate commercials that have been on for the last year or so. I think most of the commercials are bad, but not terrible. It just seems like they are trying a little too hard to reach people like me - hip, handsome, hilarious and humble insurance buyers. Note to advertisers: I can tell when I'm being targeted and I don't like it. Rod Farva's advice holds true - "never shit a shitter."
I chose this particular ad because I like it. It's by far the least annoying and forced of the whole series. From the start I like that they made the fat kid hold an ice cream cone. Kinda reinforces his family's lack of self-control and sets the stage for the premise of the entire commercial. The "midlife crisis" dig is pretty funny, mainly because it is Allstate making fun of the very people they're trying to sell insurance to. "Hey, dumbass, if you're gonna make a stupid, expensive purchase in an attempt to forget that you're old, fat and not sexually desirable anymore, you should at least pay us to insure it for when you fuck it all up." Subtle, Allstate. Very subtle.
The intentional wreck is also pretty funny. It has plenty of violence without the injuries that might come from crashing into something like a car or house. I like the idea of going to test drive vehicles without any knowledge of how to operate them. That seems like a perfectly good way to ruin a lot of stuff in very little time. Plus, with a private seller it would be pretty easy to get away with it. If anyone out there wants to give it a shot, please videotape it and put it on Youtube. You would get millions of hits.
The spitting out the nail (or whatever that piece of metal is) bit is lame, but it's immediately followed by the best part of the commercial - the maniacal laughing run. Whoever thought of the camera shot where they put a camera right in the face of someone running deserves every cinematography award ever given out.
One final thought: isn't it strange that the Mayhem Guy is on so many successful tv shows? They also had Pedro Cerrano/David Palmer in the old ads (and his voice is still on these). It seems really strange that actors who are still in demand would agree to long-running commercial campaigns. Usually commercial actors are either washed up stars, random people who have had small roles in a bunch of stuff or up and coming wannabes (or never will bes in some cases). Dean Winters is still on Rescue Me and 30 Rock, but most people recognize him as the Mayhem Guy. Show business is weird.
Final Grade: B
Great breakdown.
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