Like most people, I abhor the commercials before YouTube videos. My favorite image is SKIP VIDEO IN 05 in the bottom corner, and I’m always quick to press as soon as I can. However, once in a while a video catches my eye and I watch until the end.
Today was such a day. I was waiting for a video, when five seconds of a commercial caught my attention and I wasn’t interested in the video any more.
The commercial, as I discovered at the end (though the color scheme should have told me), was for Tiffany’s. I’ve visited Tiffany’s before, though one wouldn’t describe me as a “Tiffany’s shopper.” But this commercial was visually interesting and just a bit mad.
A Tiffany’s employee falls into a land of strange characters and bewildering scenes reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, surrounded by Tiffany products and the tell-tale Tiffany blue. The commercial culminates with a mad tea party all to the music of Aerosmith’s “Dream On,” and is interrupted as the sales clerk is jarred awake back at the Tiffany’s counter.
Alice has always been a favorite of mine, and I love various treatments of this material. I also like commercials that work to entertain as much as to sell. It is even possible for a commercial to be a work of art. So today, this is my gift to you.
As always, I welcome your comments.
Image: from Alice in Wonderland