I know a few of you might be waiting for Part 2 of my Dublin Chronicles, but, frankly, here's the truth of the matter: It got kind of boring after that first morning. Well, not boring. Because I loved every minute of my trip. But that was kind of it as far as "amusing anecdotes in which I prove what a clod I am" go. I do want to revisit it, but, on my mind today is...a beer commercial.
Specifically, this one:
I came across this on "the Internet" this morning, randomly, as tends to happen in that crazy place, and it's been on my mind all day long. I'll admit that there's a certain nostalgia factor at work here, as I distinctly remember seeing this as a boy (I was 9 years old at the time), but, man, what a great commercial this is. I don't even mean in a cheesy, ironic way. Though of course it is cheese par excellence. Especially if you watch it a few times in a row and focus on the way some of those white guys are dancing.
But, really, there is something just so wonderfully earnest about this one. I mean, I know they're selling beer, so it's not earnest in the way that, say, Joan Baez was earnest. But still. I like that they're just very sincerely and nicely singing about how great the beer is. Rather than trying to convince us that we're going to score chicks if we drink it, or that we'll be part of the cool crowd, or whatever. It's just a very celebratory ode to the drink itself. The choreography, too, the way they enter a few at a time (just like in Stop Making Sense!), the way the American flag slowly lights, the way they all look at the lead singer when she delivers the big line, it's just...perfect. And of course it all comes packaged with the standard 70s-era semi groovy/hippy/we're-all-in-it-together vibe, complete with a conspicuously self-congratulatory mixed demographic, though back then "mixed" just meant black and white, as there are no other discernible races represented, which is okay because I think there actually were no Asian people back then anyway.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Thanks to my pal Chris Remo for pointing out to me, after I published this post, that there does, in fact, seem to be an Asian woman in the chorus here. I suspect, however, that she was only recently photoshopped in by the CIA, or something.]
Part of me (the old, curmudgeonly part) wants to say "Boy, I sure wish they made commercials like this today!" But the truth is, there are still some great ones, and some shitty ones, just like back in 1970. This just happens to be one of the great ones from back then.
I sure wish they made commercials like this today.
