Friday Ad Haiku: User-Generated Commercials

So I got a call from my dad the other day. He tipped me off to the online spots Gibson is running for the Robot Guitar, their new self-tuning guitar. At $2,500, this robified gee-tar does everything but play itself, and by "everything" I mean that its buttons glow and the tuning knobs on the head turn by themselves. It's kind of like the KITT of electric guitars, only with better dialogue.

The ads are pretty funny. I particularly enjoy the fact that, in half the spots, our protagonist is playing or humming "Smoke on the Water". Next to "Stairway to Heaven" it's probably the most likely song to drive a guy working in a guitar shop to the bell tower with a sniper rifle.


I asked my dad if he was going to pick one of these babies up for himself; he was less than enthusiastic about it. Truth be told, my dad is to axe-thrashing what Chuck Norris is to ass-kicking. Giving him a guitar that tunes itself would be like giving Ron Jeremy the Kama Sutra. You just don't do it.

Anyway, part of Gibson's campaign included the popular, and increasingly irritating, trend of inviting folks to submit their own commercials. Predictably, the ones I saw online, including the winner, gave me the runs. You can guarantee that any user-generated ad promotion will include no less than 90% MasterCard rip-offs, give or take; it's the ad guy's equivalent of "Stairway to Heaven".

Making your own spot?
Hit yourself in the face with
a phone book: Priceless.

Previously in the Friday 5-7-5: Microsoft Vista pounds sand.

M.M. McDermott, ACD/Copywriter/Self-Tuning