WFF2008: "British Television Advertising Awards"

By the end of the British Television Advertising Awards (the first screening of the 2008 Wisconsin Film Festival) I was certain I couldn't bear to see another commercial -- ever. After half of an hour of 30-second bit after 30-second bit, it got tiresome. But wouldn't you know, today found me on the BTAA site, watching yet more! Consider me sold.

What I like about UK commercials is the slight disconnect they cause. Everything looks like I expect it to . . . plenty of colors and lights, plenty of conspicuous consumption, plenty of white people. But then a twist here, a turn there, and everything changes.

Take this one: Typical corporate scene. White guy, well-dressed and very much hated in his office. I think I know where this is going. Whatever he drives drives everyone to hate/envy him. But, whoa, what's that sign on his back? "I am a prick"? Not gonna see that over here across the pond. Nor the next part:

The angst for Mr. Corporate Asshole is because of his range-roverish car. And then comes the punch line (courtesy of Greenpeace): "What does your car say
about you?"

There were other BTAA commercials where I was going along, minding my own American business, and then wham! I was hit with the British stick. Such as this one: Uber-classy strip club scene. Camera focuses in on the tease. She gets down to her bra and alternates slowly between holding it with her right, then her left, then her right hand. Finally, off it comes off to reveal a full breast on one side and a long scar on the other.

All in all it was a moralizing crowd at the BTAA screening. The audience whooped it up for these and other ethical commercials on child abuse, eating disorders, drunk driving, and greenhouse gases. We do like our issues here in Madison -- as I guess they do in the UK.

There was another kind of commercial, though, the wholly British kind. Arty camera work, classy story-lines, decent acting. Orange Broadband's "Ride," in which a lone bicycle balletically weaves around through town, comes to mind.

There was also this one. Science lab scenes with a narrator saying things such as, "It is waterproof, yet lets water out." Then naked bodies of all shades on a beach. They curl up, almost spooning, uncurl. The camera pulls back, way back, to reveal bodies everywhere. It's art and it's beautiful. At the end, the voice-over says: "Your skin is amazing. Look after it." Hey, we're not in Kansas anymore.

Finally there's the kind that I can't make heads or tales of. What does the storyline have to with Product X? What the hell is Product X, anyway? Case in point: the 118 118 team. Why are there two mustachioed dweebs driving around in a van which cuts back continually to the guys in a parking garage doing a sound effect composition for their travels? In the end, who cares? This was one of funniest of the bunch. (Later, I, of course, did my homework and discovered that 118 118 is the phone directory service for Britain. You can see this commercial "Choir" and others on their Web site: www.the118118.com. Completely worth it.)

The 118 118 commercial is the only one from Thursday's screening readily available on the Web. The Awards shown at the festival were the 2007 Diploma Awards, which are not available on the BTAA site. But the 2007 ad 2008 Gold, Silver, and Bronze Awards are. Don't be a prat; check them out: http://www.btaa.co.uk/.

Last year dane101 collected many of the British Television Advertising Award commercials in an entry and posted them after the Festival was over (so as not to spoil the fun for people still going). View the 2007 commercials here and stay tuned Monday as we collect the 2008 commercials.
The BTAA's will rerun on Sunday, April 6th at 8:30 p.m. in the Monona Terrace Convention Center.