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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).

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8 Comments

  1. I think they made it “a little too long” on purpose, to highlight how boring “flashes in the pan” can become, hence the tagline “Fifteen minutes can seem like a lifetime.”

  2. I liked it. I think one minute is short enough. Then again, my attention span can last as long as 5 minutes sometimes 😉

  3. Oh, don’t be Mr. Grumpy. I laughed at the clerk’s facial expressions. “I’m not tasing you!”

  4. Kevin, what about the “intellectual” property rights of small time creators? Miss South Carolina and Tase-me were both in public forums when they were recorded, and Crocker posted a public video online; however, is it an unreasonable expectation for them to maintain some claim on their likeness or words?

    By hoping that a video goes viral, does that mean that you are submitting your creative content to the public domain, and therefore losing all claim to that content? I can’t remember who it was or where I read about it (maybe here!), but there was a guy who’s youtube video was featured, without permission, on a Viacom owned show, but when he showed the clip of it on the show in his YouTube channel, Viacom told him to take it down.

    I can’t like this commercial because it is a big company exploiting three smaller people, for profit. AOL has enough money and time to be creative in better ways.

  5. The AOL video: funny idea, shitty execution.

    Speaking of shit, and just so you know, today I had to go buy a stool softener because you’ve stopped making videos. Do you know what a stool softener is? It’s something old people use when they CAN’T TAKE A CRAP.

    Thanks buddy.

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