Nobody understands me
July 8, 2007 6:58 PM   Subscribe

..."I think I was always misunderstood. People just didn't seem to like me. I got on their nerves. I don't know why. It just the way it was. Maybe I was too intense..." (With a surprising end)
posted by growabrain (47 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Just saw this over on Reddit, and here's my question: As amazing as this is, is this really a "commercial" in the sense of one of those clips shown between segments of American Idol? I see a lot of these long adverts online, and have never really figured out where they could be shown. Is it perhaps more of a European thing?
posted by niles at 7:02 PM on July 8, 2007


My review: Boring. Predictable.
posted by mrnutty at 7:03 PM on July 8, 2007


also (while I'm asking questions), what's up with the wind guy? He amost looks CG, but I don't think he is.

Anyway, awsome clip with an excellent idea.
posted by niles at 7:04 PM on July 8, 2007


That guy's forehead is freaking me out. Is that what Wind is supposed to look like? Also the padded chest? I don't get that part.

But yes, cute, in a fancypants European way.
posted by emjaybee at 7:05 PM on July 8, 2007


Excellent ad, thanks for posting.
posted by tatiana wishbone at 7:10 PM on July 8, 2007


"Trust me...." A good contrary indicator.
posted by wallstreet1929 at 7:15 PM on July 8, 2007


Very clever.
posted by tellurian at 7:16 PM on July 8, 2007


Eh, pretty obvious.
posted by puke & cry at 7:18 PM on July 8, 2007


I agree with mrnutty. After 15 seconds, I was wondering whether it would end with him moving a wind turbine, or if he'd get paired with a cute walking-against-the-wind mime. I was surprised to hear that him being the wind was supposed to be a surprise.
posted by martinrebas at 7:22 PM on July 8, 2007 [1 favorite]


Oh man, I totally didn't find it obvious. The wind! Man. But then, it didn't really look windy what he was doing. At the same time, I was mystified by the fact that the people weren't reacting more angrily.

Upon the surprise ending I was pleased. "Hahaha," I thought to myself. I watched the video one more time. It would've been a lot better if it seemed more "windy." The wind does not blow a woman's skirt up that far, the sand in the playground is not directed a handful at a time. I thought, "well, it wouldn't have as good a payoff if you got it completely."

Then I came on metafilter. Metafilter tells me the commercial sux.

I really don't know what to think anymore.
posted by Mister Cheese at 7:24 PM on July 8, 2007 [1 favorite]


I liked it better when he was just mean.
posted by OrangeDrink at 7:27 PM on July 8, 2007 [1 favorite]


Part of the (possible) CGI-seemingness is that the dude has a cleft palate and harelip, which on first glance might just look "weird" (it did to me).
posted by tristeza at 7:30 PM on July 8, 2007


Sheesh. That really blew.
posted by The Deej at 7:30 PM on July 8, 2007 [2 favorites]


Dude looks like a character from Lazytown.
posted by puke & cry at 7:34 PM on July 8, 2007


It didn't need 2 minutes to make the simple point; as a one-minute spot, it wouldn't have seemed as much like Windy was going on and on and on - but then, maybe he was supposed to be long-winded?

And was Windy supposed to have a French accent in a commercial for a German compan? European Union, yes, but still...
posted by wendell at 7:45 PM on July 8, 2007


Sheesh. That really blew.

I get it!
posted by mrnutty at 7:48 PM on July 8, 2007


This was linked about a week ago. By MJJJ I think.
posted by dobbs at 7:52 PM on July 8, 2007


You guys, I totally understood what the point of that advertisement was before the advertisement told me.

Did you know that Bruce Willis was a ghost? I did. I knew early and I knew heartily.

Once in the third grade they showed me a picture of a man walking into the sun and I could tell that his shadow was pointing in the wrong direction. I knew, like, right away. It came very easily to me.

My email address is in my profile if anyone would like to hear my SAT score, it's pretty high.
posted by Simon! at 8:04 PM on July 8, 2007 [12 favorites]


I need to stock up on wind.
posted by inconsequentialist at 8:06 PM on July 8, 2007


I had to click through to the YouTube page itself, due to loading issues. The title on the video stole the "surprise" and along with it, my innocence.

I just want Santa Claus back, godammit.
posted by SassHat at 8:10 PM on July 8, 2007


If they wanted to maintain some sense of suprise, they should have put him in regular street clothes so we think more "dude walking around being a jerk" and less "anthropomorphic representation of something abiotic."
posted by sourwookie at 8:29 PM on July 8, 2007


interesting that you would post this.

Here in the Pacific Northwest (of all places) there is a commercial about a person who is still thinking about the damage that wind has caused to her home - it's an ad for an insurance company - an Asian woman is taking an elevator to work and is tossed against a wall by a fierce wind that only she experiences. Or she's walking on the street, and the wind tousles her hair and clothes in a violent manner.

So we have 'good wind' (example above) and 'bad wind' (insurance company advert).

I'm trying to find links to this insurance company, or to its ads, to no avail -- google yields nuttin'
posted by seawallrunner at 8:32 PM on July 8, 2007


I liked it. Made me laugh. Go ahead and enjoy it, Mister Cheese. If someone developed a cold fusion machine, Metafilter would complain about the paintjob.

seawallrunner - Sounds like the Vern Fonk aesthetic to me.
posted by EatTheWeek at 8:47 PM on July 8, 2007


Farmers HelpPoint:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5ICf4exz7I
posted by pzarquon at 8:52 PM on July 8, 2007 [1 favorite]


I liked it. And I did not predict the ending.
posted by delmoi at 8:53 PM on July 8, 2007


Some clues are the photo on the wall behind him and an actual model of a windmill in the studio, if you have to bitch about it not being enough of a surprise for you
posted by growabrain at 8:57 PM on July 8, 2007


He was a ghost? What???

No.
posted by Mister Cheese at 9:11 PM on July 8, 2007


He was actually Robbie Rotten in disguise.
posted by puke & cry at 9:24 PM on July 8, 2007


dobbs, not me, I didn't link this before - I don't know where mr. growabrain unearths all the great things he does for here and for his fascinating site.

Gee, I didn't think this was as obvious as so many others did, duh - guess I'm slow. Or maybe it's because I worked for a number of years at an inner city shelter and this guy was a lot like some of the mental health people that we served. I wasn't surprised people were ignoring him - I thought it reflected how people actually treat the poor lost souls conducting their own little scenes in our urban centers - like they are invisible. I was half expecting this to be some mental health PSO.
posted by madamjujujive at 9:25 PM on July 8, 2007


I thought it was neat. I enjoyed it.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 9:31 PM on July 8, 2007


Actor has acromegaly.
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 9:38 PM on July 8, 2007


It appeared in this post by progosk, one of many links to award winning commercials. I like it but I think it goes on just a little too long. (The commercial, not the previous post.)
posted by maryh at 9:44 PM on July 8, 2007


"They call me the breeze/I keep blowin' down the road"
posted by kirkaracha at 10:03 PM on July 8, 2007


so we think . . . less "anthropomorphic representation of something abiotic."

Oh man, you too? I think this about people all the time, and I've always been wrong. Until now.
posted by stopgap at 11:19 PM on July 8, 2007


No, no, no, no, no. The twist is, the guy he met was actually an advertising executive, not an engineer, and he really was just an asshole.
posted by Citizen Premier at 11:37 PM on July 8, 2007 [1 favorite]


I did guess the 6th sense thing beforehand (under weird, non-braggable circumstances) and this was a total surprise.

Bigger surprise was that it was more effective watching it again.
posted by Navelgazer at 12:39 AM on July 9, 2007


I need to stock up on wind.

Well, God knows you're in the right place. We've got plenty of that around here. :)

FWIW, this one caught me by surprise. My first reaction was, "wow, that was really good!" But, apparently, that's not a widely-shared opinion.

(I didn't see the ending of Sixth Sense coming either. Maybe I'm just not smart enough to hang out with the Metafilter kids.)
posted by Malor at 3:22 AM on July 9, 2007


See, I'm not going to snark about the ad... I'm going to say that while we're all sitting around and talking about the environment, climate change, man's role in such, weather models and policy... Germany has quietly been DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
posted by chuckdarwin at 4:41 AM on July 9, 2007


It was pretty good, but what I find truly impressive is that 38 comments into this thread, no one has made a fart joke yet.
posted by Skygazer at 6:41 AM on July 9, 2007


Everyone knows it's wind(y).
posted by davejay at 12:51 PM on July 9, 2007


Damn you, Skygazer. I was squeezing down to the bottom of the page for that very purpose.
posted by Mcable at 2:11 PM on July 9, 2007


I wouldn't call it a brilliant commercial. Clever, but if you are promoting a company....

1]I don't remember the name of the company... *sigh* after all that...
A Frenchman speaking eenglish, advertised by a Cherman company¿
I'm with Wendell. WFH [What Fresh Hell] is this¿


If the product's spokesman/ is portrayed negatively, will you think/assume the company is nice, or will they blow your claim off too¿ If it Is an insurance co.

for instance.

madamejujujive's observation is spot on.

I won't be watching it a second time, but if i saw it coming a second time, I wouldn't stick around...
How brill is that again¿
I give it 1 Star. Meh. advertsing.
posted by alicesshoe at 5:59 PM on July 9, 2007


If you're having difficulty with the advert, try watching one of the director's (the Poiraud brother's) movies. Atomik Circus has got it all - sex, gore, aliens, anal probing, tentacles and Vanessa Paradis.
posted by tellurian at 6:22 PM on July 9, 2007


I liked this well enough that I posted it as a double! Whee!
posted by cgc373 at 9:11 PM on July 9, 2007


I got SIXTH SENSE almost immediately (screenwriters are bad for picking up too-obvious pipe-laying and dialog which is written to service a plot point) but I totally missed this, despite being something of a wind power geek. Nicely done.
posted by unSane at 9:12 PM on July 9, 2007


glorious
posted by es_de_bah at 12:26 AM on July 10, 2007


i liked it...
posted by its just me at 12:49 AM on July 10, 2007


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