The End Begins

Finally got around to finishing God of War II. Video games take longer to finish nowadays, lots of mundane things get in the way, like work. With GoW II, it took longer because we literally got stuck at one part.

And no, we didn't get stuck because we were dumb enough not to figure out the puzzle, or weak enough not to beat the enemies. It just so happens that the DVD wouldn't load properly. No, honest!

So, God of War II. Very great game--Brutal, bloody, violent, lots of button-mashing.  Possibly the last great game in the PS2. Plot's great too! For those who haven't gone to the end yet, Athena dies, Zeus lives. **spoiler warning** 

Now that GoW's done, I can finally get back to my other important "to-do" things, specifically watch TV, DVDs and more TV. I recently stumbled upon this very disturbing commercial by Liveraide.

The ad starts off with a nice and fun house party. People hanging out, eating good food, drinking beer, laughing, chatting, having fun, the works. Then from out of nowhere, viewers are treated to the sight of two kids rushing to the medicine cabinet. The two kids then take a box of Liveraide, which they bring to the party. Then comes the part when they say their lines in cancer-patient acting style. It ends with the party coming to an abrupt and no-fun ending. Great job party-pooper kids! Take Liveraide to live a nice and long boring life. You'll be very depressed, but your liver remains intact. Guaranteed!

From depressing, we shift to annoying. Here the disappointment award goes to KFC, who a few years ago actually had advertisers with brains. I don't know any inside info here, but I do have a feeling that KFC could no longer afford their previous advertisers. There was a time when they dished out good ads, but now, everything's beneath crap.

One sucky KFC ad that got my attention was the one with the KFC Cheesy Crunch monologue. The ad goes like this:

shots of the new sandwich> description of the new sandwich> the new sandwich has cheese and chicken> wait, it has more cheese> narrator says MOOOORE CHEEESSEE to prove it

Wow. Taking imbecile to a whole new level. But wait, it actually gets worse. Last time I saw a KFC ad, they have this nerdy guy eating in a KFC restaurant. Fairly low-budget ad, possibly 20 pesos for talent fee and at 350 per hour editing, probably a grand total of 1000 pesos or so. The ad goes with absolutely-talentless-guy saying something to the effect of, KFC is so yummy (mmmmm!), and so affordable, that he'll eat there for the rest of his life. Provided of course that he doesn't get killed.

In any case, the mentioned advertising cases are not the worst there is. The guys at JackTV actually does worse in their in-house ads. If you'll notice, JackTV in-house ads are like audio-visual presentations of Wikipedia entries. Solar Entertainment people, you have to learn some day that a moron with some knowledge in non-linear editing would not do the trick. You should try talented morons at the very least.

It's sad really. Advertising is a really exciting and challenging job. Advertisers should consider having a minimum IQ for applicants. For marginal results, an average IQ of 70 at least.