TVSquad

As I've mentioned here several times before, I'm a huge fan of TV commercials, especially the history and what goes on behind the scenes of campaigns and slogans (I think it's 60% why Mad Men is one of my favorite shows). Advertising Week wants you to vote in their poll to name the best advertising icons of all-time and the best slogans of all-time. This poll happens every year, and you can see past winners who are now in the Walk of Fame at the link above.

This year the choices include Ronald McDonald (as well as the slogan "I'm Lovin' It"), that creepy Burger King guy, the Maytag repairman, Snap, Crackle, and Pop, "Got Milk" and more.

For once I'm not talking about any of the Burger King spots that have that creepy King guy, with his terrifying blank stare and equally scary son. No, I'm talking about the commercial with the guy hiding in a motel late at night, eating one of the new Cheesy Bacon Tender Crisp chicken sandwiches. A cow shows up at the door to confront him ... because the guy isn't eating burgers.

Huh? Why would a cow -- which is made of burgers -- be upset that a customer isn't eating him or his friends? Does he own stock in the company and wants customers to eat burgers instead of chicken? That wouldn't even make sense because even if the cow did hold some BK stock* selling chicken would be just as good as selling meat. Or maybe this is an example of the "death wish" type of advertising that Pete Campbell talked about in the Sterling Cooper pitch to Lucky Strike?

Even those cute M&M guys don't go around saying "eat me."

*This will probably be the only time in my life that I write about cows owning stock in a corporation.

Last year Adult Swim and Burger King teamed up for a "Have It Your Way" sweepstakes in which the winner got to decide the Adult Swim lineup for one whole evening. Last year the winner included lots of Aqua Teen and Venture Bros., and this year the winner must like themselves a lot of anime, because that's all they've chosen. I don't watch much anime, but I do love FLCL, so it's nice to see the late night/early morning marathon will kick off with a mini-marathon of every FLCL episode. The viewer-chosen episodes will start the evening of August 5, so if you enjoy shows like Paranoia Agent, Trigun, and Cowboy Bebop, start popping those caffeine pills now. You could also just record the episodes, but that's not very manly.