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With Ads of the Weird, MSNBC.com takes a look at some of the oddest, most eye-catching, controversial and just plain interesting advertising out there today. Primary writer Allison Linn covers the retail and advertising industries for MSNBC.com. The Ads of the Weird team is always interested in hearing what ads have caught your attention, whether it's online, on television or in print.


JC Penney’s bomb

Posted: Monday, December 31, 2007 11:01 AM by Rob Neill

OK. We’re willing to admit that we don’t get some popular forms of entertainment. And we’re not particularly sentimental.

But if the ingredients include Santa, a little girl and a John Lennon song, the ad has to be a recipe for holiday sweetness, right?

Nope. This thing is just a mess.

JC Penney

JC Penney’s “Aviator” ad is such a polka-dots-with-stripes thing we’re not really sure where to begin. There is a truck with an image of Santa followed by a bunch of bullying kids throwing water balloons at a little girl who then decides she needs to build something secret and learns to sneer back at the bullies while getting materials then she pitches a tent in her backyard and cobbles together a rocket ship which ends up bringing the entire neighborhood together to watch her launch it while Lennon’s “Real Love” plays in the background and the retailer wishes us all a merry Christmas.

To which we were left wondering … what does this even mean?

Water balloons inspire feats of amateur rocketry? Christmas is the time when a young girl’s thoughts turn to aviation? Upscale K-Mart-esque retailers think it’s appropriate to wish you a merry Christmas while utterly confusing you? Yoko Ono gets paid?

This is the textbook definition of a meatball sundae.

We give. We’re as full with joy and thoughts of hope and peace for the rest of the world as anyone this time of year, but we still can’t figure this out.

You can view the ad here … good luck understanding it.

Oh, btw, we thought, briefly, about doing an end-of-the-year fave ad post. But that would be lazy. But we’ll do it anyway. This was our fave (and, yes it’s hard for us to believe, but he is turning out to be the smart, responsible one in all of this silly soap opera. It was that kind of year).

Happy New Year.

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Comments

Get a life. This is a cute ad. Don't try to read everything into every action. Dream a little. I didn't expect the rocket to take off but I followed it into the sky and saw the message... and the sponsor... that was the whole idea.


Eugene Hein (Sent Monday, December 31, 2007 11:18 PM)

I didn't know that thetre was such a commericial- but from I've just read, I can at least say that it sounds crazy.

Rex (Sent Tuesday, January 01, 2008 3:24 PM)

The JCPenny commercials are really cool, they have one called "Magic" on you tube..it's even better than the santa one.....it may not directly advertise a product, but your watching JCPenny merchandise the whole time..and you will definately remember the commercial, Right ?

Mike, the artic northeast ! (Sent Thursday, January 03, 2008 7:10 AM)

It's kind of like that movie from a few years back about the brothers that make the airplane and the lder one send his brother off away from his abusive father.  Everyone thinks the kid is missing but the older brother keeps getting post cards from his younger brother.  

Doc (Sent Thursday, January 03, 2008 9:13 AM)

Why is K-Fed cooler than the JC Penney parable? It was a little abstruse but pretty cute, whereas Fed-Ex is just...played.

Brooklyn Bridge, Los Angeles, CA (Sent Saturday, January 05, 2008 1:28 PM)

I'm stunned.

Carrie May Troutville, VA (Sent Saturday, January 05, 2008 1:52 PM)

Best ad of the year, IMO.
Rejoin the human race if you want to "get" it.

Ranger, Peoria, AZ (Sent Sunday, January 06, 2008 5:08 PM)

Im sure that if John were alive today, he would be thrilled to have his music being sold out for this sad shill.  JC Penney?  more like BS Plenty

ken (Sent Tuesday, January 08, 2008 7:08 PM)

Did no one get that the rocket ship she built had a sign that read "North Pole" on it? She built the ship to go see Santa.

Sharon M., Dallas, TX (Sent Wednesday, January 09, 2008 1:08 AM)

Yeah, the writers really try to sway the readers on everything, mostly in a negative direction-sad ...

mike paget, Ontario ,Canada (Sent Wednesday, January 09, 2008 6:43 AM)

I think the author misses the whole point.  Perhaps they've never been an underdog who dreams of better things.  The girl was picked on - and by believing in herself she showed all the bullies who was the better person.  A great ad doesn't necessarily sell a particular object, but rather an image.  And I think this ad gives JCP a positive image.

Craig, Oklahoma City (Sent Wednesday, January 09, 2008 2:19 PM)

What's not to get?  The bullies are making fun of her Santa fixation.  So, she decides that she'll stop simply thinking about it and actually do something about it.  Something dramatic.  She'll build an actual rocketship to go to the North Pole.

Brian P. Evans, San Diego, CA (Sent Wednesday, January 09, 2008 2:41 PM)

Wow, they actually paid you to write this article???  The girl is flying to the north pole to meet santa.  Its about a child's imagination.  Not everything has to apply to you.

Scott Bauer, Marysville WA (Sent Wednesday, January 09, 2008 3:31 PM)

Thanks for telling me about this ad.  I would not have, otherwise, viewed it.

Hmmmmm . . . what's wrong with you people?  All SCROOGED up?!?

Geez, this was a cute little ditty about a little girl playing on her front porch.  She was drawing, enjoying her own IMAGINATION (which I'm SURE John Lennon would approve).  Neighborhood boys threw water balloons at her.  She got ticked off, and rather then letting them ruin her imagination, she built a way to get out of there, using her imagination.

She didn't let those bullies get her down.  Literally!

What is up with you people?!?  Oh, I get it.  YOU'RE the little boys throwing water balloons on other peoples' imaginations.

Hey, I've got a tip for you . . . for the new year . . . write your own commercial and see how the critics like it.  

It's a very strong image for young girls.  Little girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice!  She was dressed in her pretty dress for her lift-off, and it was sweet to see this.  Little boys . . . yup the author is sure full of it -- all the things that make up "little boys."

Karla Mink, Portland, OR (Sent Wednesday, January 09, 2008 5:25 PM)

This is why a huge percentage of Americans do not get foreign films.  Sometimes if you miss the subtlties you miss the whole meaning in the beginning the girl is drawing a picture of herself and Santa on the North Pole with a crayon line from one to the other.  Her dream is to go see Santa in the flesh at his home base.  She doesn't let the adversity of the neighborhood bully or other nay-sayers stop her.  I loved that she dressed up for her voyage.  It is the day to believe.  What more can you say, it was beautiful!

Rumaldo San Antonio, TX (Sent Thursday, January 10, 2008 8:28 PM)

I think it's about a kid who is looking forward to what she thinks what Christmas should be ... snow instead of green grass and trees; a joyous time where everyone greets everyone with a smile and "Merry Christmas" instead of the day-in, day-out abuse of neighborhood bullies.

She just wants to get away and into the place she can feel joy ... I don't suppose any adults feel the same way about the grind of 50-60hr work weeks and looking forward to Christmas.  Some adults can relate.

Sage (Sent Friday, January 11, 2008 5:05 PM)

Wow. That was a lame ad.
Good Luck next year JC Penney.

Michael Weinstein (Sent Saturday, January 12, 2008 9:56 AM)

I just want to know where the bullies got the snowballs to pelt her with to begin with.  Not a drop of snow anywhere in that town of houses with windows and doors open, kids on rollerblades playing street hockey, and a garage band practicing.

I mean, it's an all right commercial... but I wouldn't compare it to, say, the "Mean Joe Green" coke commercial of so many years ago.  ;)

Greg B (Sent Tuesday, January 15, 2008 3:01 PM)

It's OK to misunderstand something. But, now that so many people have described what this ad is about, it is now time that you retract your comments.

This is one of the best commercials of 2007.

It's about a girl pursuing her dreams. The ad even writes that at the end.
It's about a girl who dreams of visiting Santa at the North Pole. The ad even writes that on the ship at the end.
It's about a girl who pursues her dream while avoiding mean-spirited, dream-smashing, antagonists.

Take a Marketing 101 course. 'Mood or Image' messaging evokes a mood where often, "...no claim is made about the product except through suggestion...."

Rob, you're smart. Some of the posted comments must have helped you 'get it', right? So, please retract.

troy t (Sent Wednesday, January 23, 2008 2:03 PM)

just wanted to say, I'm glad you didn't retract. People should learn that everyone is entitled to their own OPINION. I, personally thought the ad was cute, but I didn't get the tie to JCP so much.

Des, Fall River, MA (Sent Saturday, February 23, 2008 2:00 PM)

This ad Had to be written by a HYPER CHRISTIAN! Only people of such ilk could conceive such a convoluded confusing downright WEIRD ad as this. After all it was Billy Grahms minions that made the ad for his book that claims that (only through GOD can you attain peace and blah blah blah).

Joseph P UHL (Sent Tuesday, March 04, 2008 4:40 PM)

I understand this ad!

The little girl is sitting on her porch daydreaming, when she see's the santa truck. Then the older kids bully her. She decides to travel to the north pole to get away from them.

She builds a rocket to go to the north pole while at the same time showing people it's okay to believe in your dreams, and teaching to bully a lesson. This is a good ad for chrsitmas!

Anna Y, Springfield, MO (Sent Wednesday, April 16, 2008 12:09 AM)



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