Vroom vroom

March 4, 2006 3:56 PM

Honda's last TV ad was a treat for Rube Goldberg fans everywhere. Their latest (9.4MB zipped H.264 video) is an excellent demonstration of the human voice as an instrument.
posted by Mwongozi (22 comments total)

I am pretty creeped out by the sucking of the cheeks and the teeth and the Garrison Keillor but that's pretty cool.
posted by xmutex at 4:03 PM on March 4, 2006

This link provides for easier viewing..
posted by provolot at 4:16 PM on March 4, 2006

I love Garrison's voice, and I'm glad he's making $. Also, couldn't the sound effects guy on PHC have done all those sounds more convinicingly?


PS: are these long commericals shown on TV? At cinemas?
posted by ParisParamus at 4:18 PM on March 4, 2006

In the UK, we semi-regularly get long commericials that occupy >50% of an ad break, which are 3-4 minutes.

They usually only last for a week, and after that they broadcast a cut-down 30 second version instead.

I imagine they're shown in cinemas too. But I wouldn't be surprised if they actually plan on web distribution, these days.
posted by Mwongozi at 4:21 PM on March 4, 2006

if 2 minute honda commercials are your thing, don't miss this one
posted by rswst8 at 4:22 PM on March 4, 2006

Damn, rswst8. That's cool.
posted by xmutex at 4:40 PM on March 4, 2006

[this is good]
posted by Afroblanco at 5:25 PM on March 4, 2006

Are you sure it's Garrison Keiller's voice?
posted by A189Nut at 5:45 PM on March 4, 2006

Great commercial -- but weird that they distribute it zipped up, since the size is nearly identical (being that they're using already-compressed video).
posted by delfuego at 5:51 PM on March 4, 2006

I really doubt that the ad previously discussed on MetaFilter was Honda's last ad.</pedant>
posted by stopgap at 6:17 PM on March 4, 2006

My understanding is that (for the "last tv ad') Honda settled with the artists Fischli & Weiss for the blatant theft of their artwork/video "The Way Things Go", after copying it - almost shot for shot- without their permission. Honda sucks.
posted by R. Mutt at 6:22 PM on March 4, 2006

delfuego, it's to stop people from wasting bandwidth by viewing it multiple times directly off of the server.

I really hope this commercial doesn't get much airplay. ugh.
posted by stavrogin at 6:38 PM on March 4, 2006

You forgot Poland the best car commercial ever!
posted by Mr_Zero at 7:32 PM on March 4, 2006

after copying it - almost shot for shot- without their permission.

I bought a copy of "The Way Things Go", and I just can't agree with this assessment.

They're both left to right continuous pans of Rube Goldberg/Heath Robinson machines, but that's about it.
posted by I Love Tacos at 8:11 PM on March 4, 2006

another previous honda ad on the blue. Also, I can't find it, but I swear the "sound effects" advert was posted previously (like several months ago).
posted by shoepal at 8:52 PM on March 4, 2006

(well, ok, maybe I saw it on digg 48 days ago. I could have sworn it was in the blue too around that time. oh well.)
posted by shoepal at 8:57 PM on March 4, 2006

You forgot the best car commercial ever!

Thank you thank you thank you, I was actually trying to explain that commercial to a friend recently.

"Ohgawditwassoradandthenthisthejetcomesout..."
posted by frogan at 10:57 PM on March 4, 2006

honda are making some truly innovative adverts, which i thoroughly appreciate. furthermore, i actually remember the name of the brand, which is the usual stumbling block with most cool adverts!

and, to add some value to the thread - car advert with a twist. turn it up loud, y'all.
posted by triv at 3:03 AM on March 5, 2006

It's impressive and I can understand why people like it, but trust me on this, after you've heard it more than a couple of times you'll want to kill the bastards that created it.
posted by dodgygeezer at 4:33 AM on March 5, 2006

I bought a copy of "The Way Things Go", and I just can't agree with this assessment.

I have a copy of it too. I Love Tacos .... Honda's ad is a complete rip off of the TWTG video.
posted by R. Mutt at 6:33 AM on March 5, 2006

Why are the ads in the U.S. never that clever nor funny?
posted by wfc123 at 7:49 AM on March 5, 2006

Why are the ads in the U.S. never that clever nor funny?

Because "clever" requires an attention span to decode.
posted by ktoad at 9:28 AM on March 5, 2006