D'Angelo's Cheetah TV Spot Critiqued in The Globe And Mail

[flip]

"Brewed from an old, ancient 150 year old recipe"

Seems a little redundant it seems, doesn't it seem?

Good thing for SteelHack they can't be fined for illiteracy.

Perhaps they should have kept reading the list of synonyms at thesaurus.com!. A subset of the choices includes a list of much more appropriate adjectives:

"Brewed from an old, ancient, broken down, debilitated, decrepit, deficient, doddering, enfeebled, exhausted, fossil, geriatric, getting on, grizzled, hoary, impaired, senile, tired, wasted 150 year old recipe"

[Belgian]

LMAO!!

[GregClow]

One of the Sun's TV writers has vented about the Cheetah ad as well:

Holy Lord, I'm watching a big time network Stanley Cup broadcast and suddenly there is old Ben Johnson galloping along in an ad for some miracle beverage called "Cheetah Power Surge." I thought it was a Rick Mercer gag or some kind of Canuck Daily Show spoof. They've even superimposed an actual cheetah over a shot of Johnson sprinting. Viewers are told to "go ahead and Cheetah!!"

What's next, Janet Gretzky for Casino Rama? O.J. Simpson for Ginsu Knives?

The ads are brought to us by Frank D'Angelo, the same carney pitchmeister who appears in those low rent ads for Steelhouse Brewery. You know, the locker room spot where the Hull and Esposito brothers and all those other NHL Hall of Famers like Brad Park and Denis Potvin play stooge to some sweaty beer baron in goalie pads. Can these hockey gods really be bought for a case of beer? Where is Todd Bertuzzi when you need him?

Funny that he calls Steelback "Steelhouse". I guess Frank's adverts aren't as effective as he'd like to think.

[Belgian]

Funny that he calls Steelback "Steelhouse". I guess Frank's adverts aren't as effective as he'd like to think.

As in "built like a steel sh-thouse?"

[JerCraigs]

24 hours had a bit by Jody Vance ripping the ad apart as well.

[inertiaboy]

Question is: even though the ads are repugnant, is bad publicity better than no publicity at all?

Personally, I'm scared to try any products associated with this company now, including the fruit juices...

[GregClow]

Question is: even though the ads are repugnant, is bad publicity better than no publicity at all?

Well, as I noted above, the horrible Steelback ads son't seem to be working if people in the business remember their name as "Steelhouse".

As for the Cheetah ads - yeah, they make me remember the product, but they sure as hell don't make me want to buy it. If anything, they just make me embarassed for Ben Johnson that his career has sunk to such a low. At least in the Steelback commercial with the hockey guys, they manage to get some jabs in at D'Angelo, and the tone makes it pretty clear that they know he's a schmuck. In Johnson's case, he just looks pathetic.

[flip]

I was watching the game last night with some neighbours when that damn ad came on. I asked everyone what they thought of it and not one person had a good thing to say about it. The concensus: it was cheaply done and everyone felt sorry for Ben Johnson. They all agreed that the worst part of the ad is when Ben actually says "I Cheetah all the time" and Frank pats him on the back. He has the most dejected look on his face... They were even more disgusted when I told them that Frank wrote it himself!

In this case, I'd say that this bad publicity is worse than none at all: everyone I've talked to does not consider the product in a positive light after this commercial. Given the number times that I have seen people buy energy drinks that I've never heard of, my impression would be that this ad actively drives people away from the product by creating a bad product image. Who wants a drink of something that would make you think of Ben with that dejected look on his face... creepy.

[Tapsucker]

Reminds me of those sad Gretzky (or Godsky to some fools) Esso ads from a few years ago.

Not 'cheetah' but 'tiger"...