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Advertising

He’s Here to Rock Your Pizza!

It’s an all-new rodent! CEC Entertainment Inc, owners of the Chuck E. Cheese line of pizza restaurant/arcades, have announced a total make-over for the company’s mascot.  Gone is the portly circus ringleader (and gone, at least in TV commercials, is Chuck E’s voice of 20 years, Duncan Brannan). In his place is a new slimmed-down Chuck E. in a t-shirt and jeans, sporting a Gibson Les Paul Guitar! The new Chuck E is voiced in ads by Jaret Reddick, lead singer for the pop-punk band Bowling for Soup (well-known for their song “1985”).  ScreenMag.com has the first ad from the new campaign up on their web site. Trivia bit for you: Did you know that Chuck E. Cheese’s pizza restaurant chain was founded by Nolan Bushnell — who also founded Atari?

image c. 2012 CEC Entertainment

Strangeness from the World of Advertising

Recently DirecTV has been running a series of ads featuring a very, very rich gentleman from Russia, showing off his indulgences — including, of course, DirecTV. But the thing that has seemed to get the most attention in the ads is sort of in the background: A little, miniaturized giraffe the fellow has for a pet. Everyone seems to have noticed the little guy, and they’re talking about him on line. So much so that someone (presumably DirecTV) has given the “petite lap giraffe” his own web site!  “Welcome to world wide famous Sokoblovsky Farms. The best and only breeders of Petite Lap Giraffes” says the introduction. There are lots of funny pseudo-Russian-isms used, of course (“To be clicking here!”). In addition to historical backgrounds and information about purchasing your own lap giraffe, there is also a 24-hour “Giraffe-Cam” where you can watch the petite bull Vladamir in his enclosure. Yes really.

 

image c. 2011 petitelapgiraffe.com

Polar Bears Pushing Beer

Empresas Polar is a well-known brewer of cerveza (beer) in Venezuela. Recently they decided to create a campaign bringing their company logo, a polar bear, to life. Enter The Character Shop, an outfit famous for their creation of animatronic characters for use in advertising — a great many of which are anthropomorphic animals. They helped Empresas Polar create the character of Pedroso the Polar Bear for their new line of TV commercials. And the people of Venezuela seem to be taking to them — and Pedroso, the 7-foot tall bear himself — quite well. The Character Shop has a page dedicated to their creation of Pedroso, and of course you can see some of his actual commercials on YouTube.