Yet More TV Ruminations
Uncle Andrew
Take a look at this picture. It’s a screen-capture from a television ad for Tic Tacs, the ubiquitous one-and-a-half-calorie breath mint in a severely rattly dispenser. (Sorry about the picture quality.)
Take a look at her eyes. That’s not some sort of video artifact; the ad’s creators used CG to give her square pupils.
Now, I’m sure that they had their reasons. Perhaps square pupils tested higher than round in targeted demographic groups. Personally, a waif-like blonde cookie with Futurama-style robot pupils doesn’t ripen my persimmons, but then again, I prefer Altoids.
In fact, the only thing that rhomboid pupils really remind me of is….a goat.
Maybe that was the point; not only do the wierd eyes make you look twice, but their caprine appearance ties into the breath mint theme quite nicely. Perhaps the viewer is supposed to think, “Wow, she’s cute, but she probably has goat breath. Thank goodness for Tic Tacs!”
In other news, I watch too much television.
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June 3rd, 2005 at 9:19 am
I think the url you were looking for is here. The quality is no better though.
June 3rd, 2005 at 9:26 am
You do watch too much TV. It’s just the lighting. As you click through the .wmv you can see her eyes are ok, just catching the box shaped lighting around her. Though I think the tag line is cute I’m sure they are playing on the more common advertising model: She’s asking to be spanked ’cause she’s been a bad girl. Ok, maybe I’m reading too much into it.
June 3rd, 2005 at 12:03 pm
My theory regarding the intent may be wrong, but I stand by my assertion that it’s there intentionally, or at least was not removed intentionally. You’re right that it looks a bit like a lighting baffle, though; maybe they shot it, saw the problem, and decided to leave it in. Or the switch back and forth is also part of the plan.
I just don’t believe that anything exists in a prime-time television advertisement that is not meant to be there. Which makes my previous entry about the semantic error in a Universal Studios ad just that much more perplexing.