Tag Archives: crocker

Mrs. South Carolina Meets Chris Crocker in AOL News Ad

A video creator I get hundreds of positive and negative comments per video. As a result, I tend to leave only positive, constructive feedback on other people’s videos.

So I have to save my criticism for online advertising like this AOL News spoof on Chris Crocker, Mrs. America and tasers.

Let’s start positive:

  • Shows AOL as progressive, because they’re spoofing something recent and viral.
  • Nice way to be relevant to a web savvy target, and provide a wink to those who understand these references.
  • Nice concept- combining three former viral video subjects in the “where are they now” theme.

Needs improving:

  • The execution is somewhat slow, despite the rapid edits. I suppose it’s because so little happens in the video… no real plot progression. This is a great reminder for me to keep my sponsored videos ultra short.
  • I’ve always had a pet peeve for political columnists that try too hard to connect two unrelated but recent events. The scenario bringing these three together was a bit forced. Having Mrs. Teen South Carolina walk into a convenience store asking if she’s in Iraq (and then Chris Crocker use his “leave Mrs. Teen South Carolina alone” bit was a little too easy.
  • This smells like a spot that cost a lot (high production value, paid actors, and dolly shots). Was the production quality a bit better than it needed to be? I would have loved to see the three characters in public (even if it meant having to use actors pretending to be pedestrians).