The commercial starts out with a familiar concept of American youth: Kids are playing baseball, the ball goes into the neighbor's yard, and they can't get it back. Apparently, Old Man Higgins is quite the grouch, and doesn't return things that go into his yard.
You'd think that the kids would have learned to hit the ball in a different direction. If they had merely batted facing away from Higgins' yard, they could have avoided this entire mess.
Fortunately, the little girl has an idea: Give the neighbor some Lays chips and maybe he'll give the ball back. This girl really seems to enjoy her Lays chips. She has at least two bags of them with her, and she gets this weird look of delight on her face every time she eats one.
Considering how much she seems to love Lays, I'm surprised that she is so willing to give up the bag for the boys. I mean, it doesn't appear as if she was actually a part of their game since she seems to be just standing to the side eating potato chips. So either this is just a really nice gesture on her part, or maybe she thinks that if she helps get the ball back, the boys will finally let her play with them?
As it turns out, the girl's plan works. I'd say it was a very lucky break since the plan had some major flaws: They were counting on Old Man Higgins being out in his yard when this all happened. And isn't it more likely that Higgins would have just gotten annoyed by the kids throwing more stuff into his yard?
Anyway, as hoped, after receiving the gift of Lays, Higgins does return the ball, as well as some other things that he had been holding on to.
The commercial takes a bit of a dark turn when we realize that this old man has been holding the child's dog hostage for some time. Did the kids realize that Higgins was a dognapper? Based on their surprise on the dog's reappearance, I'm guessing that they didn't know Higgins had him. Either way, I would have expected more of an emotional reaction at the dog's return.
At the very least, shouldn't they have been angry at Higgins for holding their dog hostage? If it was my dog, I probably would have gone over there and yelled at the guy.
What happens next might explain why they didn't pursue this course of action. Higgins had also been holding onto a car as well. And apparently, he is strong enough to throw the car over the fence.
If my neighbor was a cranky old man with super strength, then maybe I wouldn't want to confront him either. I might just say "I got the dog back. Let's count that as a victory and be done with it."
Finally, MC Hammer is thrown over the fence. The kids are surprised by his appearance, but I wonder if they would even know who MC Hammer is. These kids look to be about 10 years old. Since this commercial was made in 2005, that means that Hammer would have long since faded into obscurity by the time they were born.
Finally freed from his super strong captor, does Hammer look to run away to safety? No, he begins to sing and dance for them. This leads me to believe that Hammer had been a prisoner for years and undergone some sort of emotional torment.
Did Higgins keep Hammer on hand as his musical slave? Was Hammer forced to perform for him at a moments notice?
This would explain why Hammer simply starts to perform without prompting. The years of torture had conditioned him that way.
The kids are unsympahtetic to Hammer's plight, so they throw him back over the fence. But look at how powerfully they throw him. That certainly seems beyond the capabilities of mere children.
Perhaps it isn't just Higgins, but rather everyone in this commercial who has enhanced strength. After all, looking back at the beginning of the commercial, the kid hits the ball a pretty good distance. Is this commercial supposed to take place on Krypton or something?
Rating: 2 TVs - If there is one thing that America loves, it is seeing washed up celebrities in embarassing situations. This commercial certainly delivers in that department. And I'm sure that this commercial made an impact with the super strong, kidnapping old man population of the country. But for the rest of us...I don't know if I'd want any part of Lays chips after seeing this.
No comments:
Post a Comment