Sometimes bad ads are just bad.

June 26, 2014

Apparently, bad advertising is a “thing” now. First off, for your viewing pleasure is a rare commercial from St. Ives. It features blogger Grace Helbig who apparently likes to yell and (act?) stoned if this attempt at promotion is any indication. At least the longer version seems slightly more coherent than it’s 30 second counterpart. On the downside, it’s a lot more yelling and delusion from it’s star.

As if this weren’t bad enough, I ended up hitting this commercial several times during a recent “Raising Hope” binge on Hulu+. Invariably it was paired with an equally bad commercial for what is a apparently a wine called Trapiche Malbec. A silly mess that tells you nothing about the wine but where it is from. So bad that I can’t even find the video online. And everything is online these days.

Using vloggers in commercials works for YouTube because they do it well. Witness the relentlessly adorable Rosanna Pansino…

But when advertisers start plucking these self-made video stars for their own purposes, they kill what made them unique in the first place. That’s why the “hashtag” needs to retire from advertising and sitcoms immediately.