"Truth" in Advertising?

The other night, Mr. Remarkable Monkey and I were watching Top Gear on BBC America (is it just me, or is the British version of Top Gear the only one worth watching?) when one of those wonderful cable-only commercials came on. You know the kind... low-budget production, excitable voice-over announcer, overly obvious acting, etc. The ad was for a certain lightning implement.

Now, I was playing around on my new MacBook Pro and only half paying attention when the commercial started. But the over-emphatic announcer caught my attention. Without looking up from my laptop, I commented to Mr. RM about the "James Brolin School of Acting" quality of the voiceover. (The James Brolin School of Acting tag is a fond moniker we've given to any example of tin pan alley, obvious or just plain bad thespianism. No offense intended to James Brolin, but it was based on a few poor examples of his acting that we've witnessed in the past, but that's just our opinion.)

The ad was full of enthusiastic declarations about the amazing features of the product, delivered with such gusto that one would believe this item is the be-all and end-all of the lighting world! The greatest thing since the electric lightbulb! Truly, this spot could almost be mistaken for a parody of those "seen on TV" ads, but it's for real. And then, without warning, the announcer made the astounding declaration that this particular lantern was made with "genuine metal".  GENUINE METAL! WTF? Mr. RM and I immediately stopped and looked at each other, and then burst out laughing. Genuine metal? Seriously? What other kind of metal is there?

In defense of the copywriter, I'll grant that there probably are many products made from plastic embellished to look like metal, but the exuberance with which the statement was made was completely over the top and comedically ridiculous. Or maybe it was just us. I don't know. Here's a link to the spot... I'll let you be the judge. (The metal magic happens at 1:17.)

On top of the genuine metal claim, the lantern also features an "authentic antique dome"... whatever that is. Have they recycled the dome part from old lanterns? Other versions of this spot say "authentic shatterproof dome" instead of "authentic antique dome"... I wonder which version is the the "legally approved claim" version? The mind boggles.

Apparently, this ad has been around since last summer, but somehow we'd never seen it in the monkey cage. At any rate, we might be late to the party, but we got a solid chuckle out of it! Maybe you will too. I think they may carry these at some big box retailers now too, so feel free to run out and buy yourself one! Be sure to let me know if it lights up the night for ya, and lasts 10,000 hours.