Abnormalities of Life

I was watching TV last night and saw two commercials back to back, and had to comment on both.

I tried finding the first one online but could not. If I eventually find it, I'll update you all. It is for the Pennsylvania Lottery. It features Gus, "Pennsylvania's Second Most Famous Groundhog"--why any state needs more than one is beyond me, but heck it put Punxatawny on the map--as the main lottery spokes puppet. Gus, although cute, is about as technically sophsiticated as 1980's-era animatronics can get. Too bad its 2007. What really bothers me though, is that he plays a superhero watching over the people of a city as they prepare for the day by purchasing lottery tickets. The problem is that the city he is watching over is New York; you can see Times Square in the background. What ever happened to showing a Pennsylvania city in a Pennsylvania commercial? I hear Philadelphia and Pittsburgh both have tall buildings within urban landscapes. Heck, even Harrisburg, Allentown, Erie, or Scranton--now famous thanks to NBC's The Office--would be better. Can I get a cheer for Ephrata? Williamsport? Jim Thorpe?

This commercial was immediately followed by one for a local radio station. Wired 96.5 is one of the top 40 stations in the Philadelphia Market. A few months back, Chio (what the hell kind of name is that) was DJ for a different top 40 station. He was the annoying DJ I spoke of previously. Now that he has moved on, the marketing push to convert listeners has been begun. They feature him in a cheesy commercial where he does a show with sparklers, wears a dumb beret, and defaults to Beyonce every second. Its bad, but it is about par for local TV. What bothers me is him actually. He has a face truly made for radio. . .



Or made for a cartoon.