Thursday, March 26, 2009

J.J. is Amazing

Just came from watching the season finale of Skins- the British equivalent to Degrassi, only debatably more nudity and alcohol. Anyways, a group of us have gotten hooked on it, and while watching today, this commercial came up that even though I've seen before depresses the hell out of me.

Scene opens on a man brushing his teeth in the bathroom. Camera shot over his shoulder shows him turn and see something. Focusing in, we see it's small child, bent up in a funny way. This child appears while he's at work, in the kitchen, and his desk at home, and even when he turns over in bed that night. You're just about to wonder if this is a sequel to "The Sixth Sense" when words come up across the scene: "Control your speed or live with the consequences. Drive 30."

This commercial would probably never fly in the US, (which I'm not entirely unhappy about). It's funny then that they are just now beginning to consider airing condom commercials on main channels, due to a push by the sex education foundation. They are also considering running commercials on abortions to combat the increase in teen moms. I'm curious what effect it will have. Actually, just in general, the commercials are different, here. Sometimes they're funnier, or cheesier, and others they're more bizarre, more abstract, leaving you wondering how they made it off the drawing boards. I wish I could conclude with some deep realization about British vs. American culture via these commercials, but I'm not there yet.

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