Though my childhood was filled with hours in front of the television that allow me the ability to still recall and recite numerous commercial jingles from my youth—from Amazin’ Fruit to Gator Golf and on down to Crocodile Mile and Crossfire—I haven’t had cable for a few months and rarely see TV adverts anymore. However, at the gym yesterday, I saw a commercial that spoke to me on an oddly primal level. It was as if someone had reached directly into my imagination, plucked a flitting flight of fancy out of my noggin and made it a shoe commercial.
Here is that shoe commercial…
This commercial doesn’t appeal to me in a “It’s like my problems are manifesting as forest beasts and I’m beating them in a pursuit” type way or in a “Yeah, running is cool” way, this brief film is just an example of something that frequently runs through my mind. PUN INTENDED!
Let me explain.
Likely reinforced during numerous Capture The Flag games at summer camp, but first gained in elementary school gym class, I love the act of and the idea of games that solely emphasize running and dodging. There’s something just so simple and cool about taking off in your sneakers and making a mad dash while narrowly avoiding a flurry of hands in a game of freeze tag or possibly—and similarly—wild beasts on a forest trail.
When I run nowadays, I prefer to have music of a fairly frantic and driving pace. The Noisettes song in this video is pretty compulsive and works for the commercial’s purposes, especially considering it’s title “Don’t Give Up.” Long before this commercial however, I’ve frequently been driving in my car or going for a jog while listening to my iPod and my mind has drifted to inventing chase-themed music videos as the road passes by—most frequently to songs by LCD Soundsystem or to “The Room Got Heavy” by Yo La Tengo. Again, it must go back to my childhood, but the running chase is an addictive scenario for my wandering mind.
Anywho, that’s enough pontificating on my part. It’s a pretty cool ad any way you slice it, and though I’ve never purchased a pair of Timberland shoes, I am now thinking of doing so… and racing bears.
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- Songs I can’t get enough of right now
Song most impossible to speed to = Beatie boys ‘sabatoge’… try it… You could be driving a golf cart through a nursing home’s crowded hallway and you would end up shouting ‘get out of the way!” and sending old folks flying while fishtailing around them and the hallway garbage cans.
the strokes ‘reptilia’ has a close 2nd, if only because of the line ‘you’re not driving fast enough.
sorry that should have been ‘most impossible NOT to speed to… LOL– just woke up, coffee is slowly entering the blood stream…
Ah, Mr. Trieshmann, you are very much like a young James T. Kirk…according to the new “Star Trek” flick.
But yeah, many songs cause me to put the pedal to the metal, as they say…
“Big Sky” by The Reverend Horton Heat
“Wavin’ My Dick In The Wind” by Ween
…there are definitely more, but my mind went totally blank just now.
If you’re not fast you’re food; a metaphor for the competitive world we live in. Very Darwin like. Don’t give up is a cool theme and are truly are words to live by. Thanks Jimbo