The Dos Equis Cat Allergy Commercial

Dos Equis is moving away from their contentious commercial where a “friend” tosses his buddy’s ukulele into a bonfire. With friends like that, who needs enemies, right? I did a blog about that commercial here. Meow they’re back with a dude who has a lot of cats, who’s going through a little cat-astrophe. His lady broke up with him (because of all the cats, maybe?) and he needs a place for himself, Whiskers, Kitty Purry, Fluffy, and the rest of the gang to stay till he can figure out next steps. Check out the commercial then scroll down for meowre info…

Achoo. As one who’s allergic to cats, I can totally related to the homeowner guy. He’s stuck between a purr and a hard place. He makes the tough choice to let his friend stay there for a bit. I’m nice like that, too. I’d go out of my way to look up a few Airbnbs for him. Beyond that, there’s a better chance that I’d watch Barbie again than letting him bunk up with me for an undetermined amount of time.

This is kind of a side bar. I don’t understand the feminization of (white) men in a lot of recent commercials, TV shows, movies, etc., but as platitudes say, we are where we are. It is what it is. This Dos Equis cat guy has some work to do and I’d say it starts with the reason for all the cats.

-Out of the Wilderness

College Game Day with the Jonas Brothers, Really?

College football probably won’t have any upset games today which elevates next week’s games even more. So what does ESPN College Game Day do to drum up ratings? Have the Jonas Brothers sing a ballad, of course! I’ll post a link to their “Strong Enough” performance but for now, here’s an interview that has no relevance whatsoever to college football.

After an audio fail and a few more seconds of listening, I went directly to Fox Big Noon Kickoff. Yep, that’s what I did. I know I’m a total dud but listening to married adult men sing a slow paced, melodic song about drinking at the bar till it closes with lines like, “So light me up, twist me something good, make it strong enough,” gets me super pumped for college football.

Said no one ever.

Sometimes marketing this way works fine. Other times, you have a combination of things that make no sense being combined. This boring Game Day Jonas Brothers thing is the latter. That’s why I quickly switched to Fox, which I’m enjoying quite a bit on Saturday mornings. It really gets on my nerves when bands and artists don’t read the room. Jonas Brothers, next time you perform for a hyped college crowd, think about picking an upbeat song even if it’s an old hit of yours. You don’t always have to promote your latest single.

-Out of the Wilderness

IKEA I Think We’re Alone Now – The Holiday Commercial

It’s kind of like when you go on vacation and then come home and need a vacation from your vacation. Sometimes the holidays can be a bit wild and that’s the sentiment in this IKEA Christmas commercial. Take a look then scroll down for more info and be sure to check my Popular TV Ads page for more about some of the best, and worst, commercials out there…

The Music. This is a well-known song from the 1980s called “I Think We’re Alone Now” by Tiffany. Here’s the full track in all its techno glory.

Anyone else getting “Let’s Go To the Mall” vibes from that video? Sheesh! Robin Sparkles is a legend.

Which rock band covered “I Think We’re Alone Now”? Hint… It’s not Blue Week. You got it, Green Day (specifically Billie Joe Armstrong).

The holidays can be crazy, but don’t let the stress steal your Christmas spirit (right Amazon?). What do you think of this commercial from IKEA? Chime in below!

-Out of the Wilderness

GEICO Pollen Stuffy Nose Commercial – The Actress and More!

“The hot dog smells from the hot dog guy!” is something I’ve been repeated to myself this afternoon. It’s stuck in my head and although I looked up Progressive allergy commercial, the commercial is still a memorable one from not Progressive, but GEICO.

The stuffed up woman is actress and comedian Jenna Jimenez. In her own words, she is “obsessed with knitting, rollerblading, and picking things up with her monkey-like toes.” I didn’t see any toe picks* on her Instagram but there are other photos you’ll probably enjoy.

The hot dog smells from the hot dog guy. Who else can immediately smell the ketchup and mustard when she says this line? The bun. The hot dog. Such a wonderful aroma. The only thing that doesn’t quite make sense (but it’s necessary for the commercial, I guess) is that why would anyone who suffers from outdoor allergies (myself included) walk through such a dense garden of flowers, weeds, and foliage? It’s a death wish!

*you can’t say “toe pick” without including the reference.

-Out of the Wilderness

The Blackening… Lots of cursing but was it racist, too?

I love a good horror/comedy so when I found The Blackening on DVD at my local library, I was fired up. I had leftover Chinese food set up for dinner and with the rain pitter pattering on my camper roof, it was the perfect night for staying in. Popped the dinner in the microwave, popped the DVD in the player. On with the show!

I guess I was expecting more laughs. More edge-of-my-seat thrills. It’s a satire film, right? Well, if it weren’t for my amazing Mongolian Tofu from Tan’s Asian Cafe, the whole night would’ve been a bust. I’ll just say it plainly. The movie sucked. This comment on YouTube perfectly sums it up.

Any horror or humor that was welling up got tangled up with four things: One, the overuse of the ‘f’ word. Two, if the ‘n’ word is taboo, you wouldn’t know it by watching this film. Every other line had a “n this” or “n that.” It was exhausting to watch. Three, the random telepathy between a few of the characters. I mean, what? Four, some of the lines were delivered so fast I couldn’t understand what they were saying. A muddled mess is how I’d describe those conversations. It reminded me of this character from the Cosby Show. She spoke fast but did it so well.

Thank you.

That’s all Mr. Huxtable could say, and that’s about all I can say about this movie. Thank you for trying. Don’t make a sequel unless it’s actually funny or scary. Also, if you lose half of the cursing, it won’t hurt the plot a single bit. A few moments in the movie had me wondering this: if the roles were switched (and the movie was called The Whitening), would there be chaos in the streets? Probably. But in 2023, it’s culturally acceptable to debase white people so this movie gets a pass, even though the “satire” felt more like biased displeasure.

-Out of the Wilderness