Foz
02-24-2006, 01:03 AM
Okay, I don't mind the beavers or the Father/son/grandson Tim Horton's commercial being overplayed during the Olympic coverage.
The yogurt one is annoying as hell though.
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at 16:55 on February 23, 2006, EST.
By JOHN MCKAY
Two actors portray a father and grandfather watching a minor hockey game in this Tim Horton's Olympic ad. (CP PHOTO/HO)
TORONTO (CP) - Two goofy beavers become Bell pitchmen.
An elderly man totes a Tim Hortons coffee mug to watch his grandson play hockey.
A grocery store shopper implores other customers, in a cartoon-like voice, to pick up some Yoplait yogurt.
The TV ads have been running, and running, and running, during CBC's wall-to-wall Turin Olympics coverage, prompting media columnists and some viewers to vent their displeasure.
"To judge from my inbox, this commercial is almost as popular as certain forms of hepatitis," wrote critic Scott Feschuk of the Tim Hortons ad on his Maclean's magazine blog.
At the Livejournal blog site, one Olympics viewer writing under the handle Tripathy said the Yoplait ad "made me want to put my fist through the screen the first time I saw it, and now it just may break my sanity."
But some TV watchers admit they like the ads.
"I find the beaver ones cute and kinda cool," says Brad Ellison of Mississauga, Ont., a devoted Olympics fan, although he does concede "they have played them a few times maybe too many."
Ellison, 48, likes the sentiment in the Tim Hortons ad, too. It shows a grandfather who admits he secretly watched his own son playing long ago, even though he had always lectured him to study more and play sports less.
"I enjoyed the relationship of the grandfather sneaking in and the son not realizing his dad had actually paid attention all those years. I kind of like that symbolism."
Alan Middleton, professor of marketing at York University's Schulich School of Business, says the fact that major, well-heeled sponsors like Bell and McDonald's have come up with only a few ads, which are endlessly repeated, is inexcusable.
"There is what is called in the business a wear-out factor - that over any period of time a commercial is over-exposed," says Middleton.
"One of three things happens. We shut it out of our consciousness. The second thing that happens is it does piss us off . . . so there is a p.o. factor. The third one is that even if people see it a lot, they like watching it. That is a minority response but it does happen."
He suspects those digital beavers, Frank and Gordon, have somehow managed to fall into the latter category.
At a downtown Toronto food court, it was difficult to find any critics among the lunch-hour crowd on Thursday. In the underground mall, bleachers were set up in front of a pair of widescreen TVs tuned to the Games coverage.
Seated with their steaming Tim Hortons mugs in hand, Torontonians Les Barkhouse and Kevin Gordon had no issue with overexposure to the commercials. Barkhouse found the Proud Fathers ad "pretty neat," one that touches the heartstrings.
"It's kinda sappy but it's one of my guilty pleasures."
Gordon added that anything to do with Tim Hortons is Canadian and so can't be that bad.
Katherine Harris of Toronto also felt no annoyance over the ads at all.
"Oh I love the beavers!" she exclaimed. "The beavers are hilarious."
Tim Hortons spokesman Gregg Skinner says the chain has received terrific response from customers to Proud Fathers.
He admitted that in the past they've had people asking why a particular ad had to run so often, but not this time.
"It's just really well done and works on different levels."
The yogurt one is annoying as hell though.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
at 16:55 on February 23, 2006, EST.
By JOHN MCKAY
Two actors portray a father and grandfather watching a minor hockey game in this Tim Horton's Olympic ad. (CP PHOTO/HO)
TORONTO (CP) - Two goofy beavers become Bell pitchmen.
An elderly man totes a Tim Hortons coffee mug to watch his grandson play hockey.
A grocery store shopper implores other customers, in a cartoon-like voice, to pick up some Yoplait yogurt.
The TV ads have been running, and running, and running, during CBC's wall-to-wall Turin Olympics coverage, prompting media columnists and some viewers to vent their displeasure.
"To judge from my inbox, this commercial is almost as popular as certain forms of hepatitis," wrote critic Scott Feschuk of the Tim Hortons ad on his Maclean's magazine blog.
At the Livejournal blog site, one Olympics viewer writing under the handle Tripathy said the Yoplait ad "made me want to put my fist through the screen the first time I saw it, and now it just may break my sanity."
But some TV watchers admit they like the ads.
"I find the beaver ones cute and kinda cool," says Brad Ellison of Mississauga, Ont., a devoted Olympics fan, although he does concede "they have played them a few times maybe too many."
Ellison, 48, likes the sentiment in the Tim Hortons ad, too. It shows a grandfather who admits he secretly watched his own son playing long ago, even though he had always lectured him to study more and play sports less.
"I enjoyed the relationship of the grandfather sneaking in and the son not realizing his dad had actually paid attention all those years. I kind of like that symbolism."
Alan Middleton, professor of marketing at York University's Schulich School of Business, says the fact that major, well-heeled sponsors like Bell and McDonald's have come up with only a few ads, which are endlessly repeated, is inexcusable.
"There is what is called in the business a wear-out factor - that over any period of time a commercial is over-exposed," says Middleton.
"One of three things happens. We shut it out of our consciousness. The second thing that happens is it does piss us off . . . so there is a p.o. factor. The third one is that even if people see it a lot, they like watching it. That is a minority response but it does happen."
He suspects those digital beavers, Frank and Gordon, have somehow managed to fall into the latter category.
At a downtown Toronto food court, it was difficult to find any critics among the lunch-hour crowd on Thursday. In the underground mall, bleachers were set up in front of a pair of widescreen TVs tuned to the Games coverage.
Seated with their steaming Tim Hortons mugs in hand, Torontonians Les Barkhouse and Kevin Gordon had no issue with overexposure to the commercials. Barkhouse found the Proud Fathers ad "pretty neat," one that touches the heartstrings.
"It's kinda sappy but it's one of my guilty pleasures."
Gordon added that anything to do with Tim Hortons is Canadian and so can't be that bad.
Katherine Harris of Toronto also felt no annoyance over the ads at all.
"Oh I love the beavers!" she exclaimed. "The beavers are hilarious."
Tim Hortons spokesman Gregg Skinner says the chain has received terrific response from customers to Proud Fathers.
He admitted that in the past they've had people asking why a particular ad had to run so often, but not this time.
"It's just really well done and works on different levels."