The art of television commercials

The idea of paying money to sit in a movie theatre and watch commercials may seem odd. Most people would probably pay not to have to watch commercials before their feature presentation. However, we do often accuse commercials of being ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ so isn’t it possible that some might be so good as to merit appreciation in and of themselves? That’s the assumption behind the Cannes Advertisement Festival, an annual celebration of the best television commercials from around the world.

The Cannes Lions, the awards given to advertisers for outstanding television commercials, are distributed in the framework of the International Advertising Festival, which takes place for one week every June in Cannes. The festival is in its 53^rd year, and has been showing the best ads of each year to audiences world-wide since 1990.

The advertisements presented are for every variety of products and from every region of the world. Multi-national corporations like Nike, Sony, Volkswagen or Levis’ are rewarded consistently every year. Meanwhile, a rotating cast of smaller companies always appears, selling everything from poultry to plasma televisions.

Consumer goods are also not the only thing being pushed in these excellent advertisements. Touching segments come courtesy of UNESCO, funds for children with cancer and AIDS research groups. The Truth, an organization seeking to hold tobacco companies responsible for their customers’ illnesses with hard-hitting documentary-style commercials, is often rewarded as well. The government of Thailand, on the other hand, chose humour as a way of reaching its audience in a series of commercials demanding a greater effort towards energy conservation.

Indeed, throughout the screening, comedy is the most popular advertising technique. A number of companies harnessed the inherent humour of showing people in animal suits in order to push their products. The brand of candy Skittles, featured multiple times this year, were able to give their familiar tagline “taste the rainbow” new meaning by framing it in mundane, everyday situations and letting absurdity do the rest. The most abrasively comic series was produced to sell an energy drink. Surveying a serene scene in the countryside, viewers were lulled into relaxation until a vampire-like creature leapt to the front of the image, causing one to feel just as awake as if one had consumed the caffeinated drink.

However, comedies being the genre of choice, funny commercials tended to melt into one another, as advertisements generally do. Many of the most memorable segments ended up being those which were strikingly different. A Levis’ commercial adapting a scene from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, set in the streets of present-day Los Angeles, will not be soon forgotten. Similarly, a series of very strange, uncomfortable and disturbing commercials for Olympus digital cameras shocked their way into viewer’s memories.

However, advertisements which demonstrated immense creativity provided the greatest support for considering television commercials an artistic medium, and were the best of this year’s winners. A wonderfully animated segment from France to raise AIDS awareness testified not only to technical expertise, but also vivid imagination and terrific artistic talent. A similarly colourful advertisement for Honda diesel engines was given this year’s top prize. Finally, a series of commercials for Adidas footwear proved exceptionally clever and creative, but also undeniably beautiful; a personal favourite.

However sceptical one might be at the prospect of watching several dozen television commercials in a row, the experience is extremely enjoyable, year after year without fail. It is also enlightening, as one becomes aware that all those things typically avoided while watching TV might actually be better than the program one is struggling to watch. In fact, the dense doses of comedy, touching drama, or arresting beauty one experiences in these commercials are more satisfying and enjoyable than most TV shows or feature films.

For a society that suffers from many symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder, the condensed format of the television commercial might be the most fitting medium for artistic expression.

Note: This article was published on 19 January 2006 in the McGill Daily, and a version of it can be found on that paper's website here.