New Vodafone Ad featuring Yoda

http://youtu.be/6obEMR_aRkA

I fucking hate everything about this shit ad.

R.I.P Star Wars.

For the non-UK folks here, Vodafone is a mobile phone network provider.

R.I.P?!

Wow, people here do have a problem with Star Wars being part pop culture... Besides, Star Wars being used for ads is nothing new.

Alexrd said:

R.I.P?!

Wow, people here do have a problem with Star Wars being part pop culture... Besides, Star Wars being used for ads is nothing new.

+1. What's so bad about it? Remember the Ep.II ad that showed Yoda flipping and jumping around like a cartoon frog and ended with the slogan "Yoda man!" but pronounced like "yo' 'da man!"? Now that was horrible.

Alexrd said:

R.I.P?!

Wow, people here do have a problem with Star Wars being part pop culture... Besides, Star Wars being used for ads is nothing new.

But it's a really bad ad.

I like the VW ad with the kid vader (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55e-uHQna0) and I like the Adidas Cantina ad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zd_khk6zXo).

I just don't like crap ads.  I make ads for a living - this one's crap.  It uses Star Wars really, really badly, and I guess I don't like the fact that Lucas is cool with his creations getting shit on (most directors don't hold the rights so don't have  a say or get overuled by third parties... George doesn't have those problems, in fact, Lucasfilm and ILM produced this turd).

ray_afraid said:

What's so bad about it?

The Script

The Pacing

The Direction

The Acting

The lazy creative idea behind it (using a smartphone is a bit like having the force... Yoda sounds like Voda)

The Contrived nature of the set up (Why is Yoda in a Japanese Restaurant?  Why did that guy bring his old phone out to dinner?)

The thing about him tasting like Wasabi

What's up with Yoda's voice?

My big problem with this commercial is that anyone needs an ad to tell them that their cell phone company will port their contacts over. Seriously, what company doesn't, and why wouldn't you already have your contacts syncing to an online service anyway?

Oh, and Yoda, really? You needed to pay a lot of money to get Yoda to make that point for you?

Haha, that Vader 'Warp' ad is WEIRD!

Since when does Vader warp?  WTF?

commercial was supposed to be funny....but wasn't :(

not as embarrassing as those TPM commercials wih that stupid alien but still felt very lethargic

do people still say 'meh' on the internet?  thats how I would describe commercial.

the vader energizer and VW commercials were better.  there's supposed to be a new SW commercial with dogs, we'll see how that one is.

This is my new favorite image:

none said:

This allowing the SW material to be used by non-SW enhancing properties is what I think pisses people off.

But what's wrong with it? One thing is not liking the ad (I love both ads from Volkswagen, they were well done), the other is claiming that Star Wars is dead (or a similar variant) because it was used on an ad.

I just wrote that comment because the Volkswagen thread has the same complaints.

doubleofive said:

Oh, and Yoda, really? You needed to pay a lot of money to get Yoda to make that point for you?

It's not just advertising the service, but indirectly the brand too. And as an ad, it's working since we are all talking about it.

none said:

Many appreciate the movie in and by itself.  Anything which blemishes the universe/story, or pulls someone out of that context is unwelcomed.

Then we go back with what I said, some people have a problem with Star Wars being part of pop culture.

and you feel otherwise, congrats you've formed an opinion.  On your side is that a company recent spent a rumored half a billion on a SW video game.

http://www.videogamer.com/pc/star_wars_the_old_republic/news/star_wars_old_republic_cost_ea_500m_says_analyst.html

How is that relevant for the discussion we're having?

'any press is good press'.  The Any = Good arguments really only works for extremely big type properties.  SW 77 was not one of those things, and that more innocent cultural item is valued higher then the washed out vehicle SW has become, by a certain subset of fandom.

I never said "any = good". I said that the ad is doing it's job.

Your icon showcases your mind set.  The 'hero' who in the pilot realizes that you don't need to advertise with any specific or worthwhile cultural goal, no truth or Truth needed, just get people talking/buy your stuff.  As that's the only goal, buy buy buy.

Care to explain what are the basis for your assumptions? Because that's what those claims are, assumptions.

You can have ads which accomplish two goals.  The shilling of a product and the advancement of the cultural object.  But in 77 there was only the goal of getting people to enjoy the movie.  In many ways this romantic notion that SW was this wide eyed childlike experience could remain that way is retarded.  But it's also sad that it's not really possible to experience SW in an innocent way, anymore.

And how does that relate to what we are discussing?

Bingowings said:

I can't wait to see Yoda in a Skoda myself.

Now that could work. And seeing as Skoda is part of VW, isn't impossible.

I can see both sides of the coin here. None's posts in this thread resonate with me, but I appreciate Alexrd's views too. I guess I'm coming at it from a certain perspective, that of a 30-something Star Wars fan who also happens to write ads (including a couple for Vodafone). So I hate this in the way a lot of Star Wars fans in their 30s hate that stupid CGI yoda and what the franchise has become, while also thinking it's a particularly weak, sloppy commercial, from an industry point of view.

Maybe Star Wars isn't 'dead', but what it once was for many people is now lost forever (and has been for some time).

 after what, 10-12 years, Im still not sure what the heck that is supposed to be or how it works.  If anyone owns this, explain with a picture please.

The tongue is made of candy, and a small battery operated motor in the handle makes it rotate, although I'm not sure why.

Any other uses are best left to your own sick imagination. ;)

IIRC, they lingered in the toy aisles for a long time on clearance before disappearing completely. Some future archeologist digging up an old landfill is going to have their head explode figuring it out.

hmmmm.....k  

battery operated?  one expensive piece of candy.

makes you wonder what stuff they turned down (if any).