Selling the unsellable

It’s hard not to look at any advertisement on TV without a bit of skepticism.

CotB believes, for example, that OxiClean isn’t just a cleaning product, but sinister magical potion that collects all that grime and deposits it in the beard of zombie-spokesman Billy Mays. There is no other way that his facial hair could be that black. It isn’t just black, it’s the absence of all color.

But excuse us, we’re getting off track here. We’re supposed to talking about being mistrusting advertising, and how a group of Australian advertising agencies set out to advertise the improbable. This time they weren’t making ads to fool us into buying kangaroo burgers or big can of Foster’s beer, instead they wanted to sell us on child labor, unprovoked wars and global warming.

In previous seasons, they had a lot of fun. “Support child labour,” one commercial says, “A little bit of work won’t hurt them.”
Then there’s the new jingle pushing for an invasion of New Zealand: “No planes, no tanks, no navy. Not to want it would be crazy.”

But don’t worry, the preposterous segments aren’t real. The TV ads, all of them, were just a friendly competition between two advertising agencies as they tried to sell the unsellable, but fun nonetheless.

You can watch the current season by going here (while available), or those that have been collected here by thoughtful YouTube members.