Monday, March 29, 2010

LelliKelly: the 'world's worst commercial'... Ever?

My very discerning and opinionated digital native Generation Z niece, Jazzie, posted this message to her facebook page:

I found the world's worst commercial in Japanese or Chinese or Korean or something! (No clue what the language is. But apparently this is the WORLD's worst commercial. Ever.)

She goes on to say: I really, really love this.

So we are back in the PINK with LelliKelly, makers of crappy-but-sparkly stuff for young girls. (Check out all the grammatical errors at that website). There are so many problems with the LelliKelly commercials along every axis of race, class and gender (not to mention eco-awareness) that it's hard to know just where to begin. 

The girls in the ads certainly display an irrational exuberance, though, and their LelliKelly objects appear to give them access to an annoying-but-potent form of Girl Power. I can imagine their appeal, and the way it sets girls en route to those pink-striped Victoria's Secret bags. (The preteens want to be older, and the big girls want to be children again: it's an interesting tension that leaves them all back in those pink baby clothes – or does it? They do exude body confidence, but maybe it's the confidence that comes most easily when you are a spoiled babe?)

There's even a LelliKelly cookery book "with lots of suggestions and simple recipes made with seasonal produce plus invaluable nutritional information for a healthy, natural diet for all the family." Hmmm. What, no glitter or sparkles in those food items? Where's the fun in that?

Here is the video ad that Jazzie posted, and another in a German version. 

Following those, my own favorite LelliKelly ad, a parodic critique, perhaps the best kind. I have to say:
I really, really love this. 

But I also really, really love these boots. Your thoughts?



 


3 comments:

Lyle Daggett said...

The boots are okay, though I would have made the flower and leaf shapes less symmetrical.

At the top of my list for worst commercial in the world is the one that played on network T.V. in the U.S. this past December, where it shows a man talking to the camera (or to the viewers), suggesting that a great gift for a man to give his wife or girlfriend would be a pap smear appointment.

Not that a pap smear is a bad idea in the right context, but...

I saw two different versions of the commercial -- one was vaguely Christmas-themed, and the other was vaguely Hannukah-themed, and at the end of that one, the man in the commercial said (I swear I'm not making this up), "It'll light her menorah!"

elena said...

You know, don't you, Lyle, that this just might force me to do an exhaustive YouTube search!

Also,I've decided I'd like the DIY version of those boots better, making them out of felted doghair or something. And yes, less symmetrical..

elena said...

I've changed my mind about those boots. Call it "Surf-By Would-Be Buyer's Remorse..." So I will remain LelliKelly untainted!