Most commercials are exaggerated. This is understood. All products featured in commercials, may it be for shampoo, detergent, or magical mops that spin, are meant to look like the solution to all of your problems. There is, however, a line that separates exaggeration and plain ridiculous. Take this commercial for example. It's for toothpaste. The commercial shows this guy meeting a girl who was in line to see a band called Never the Strangers. However their introduction was cut short by the concert mob which dragged her away before she could finish telling the guy his name. He didn't seem to have a ticket because he wasn't in line at the entrance. Why he was there in the first place, we'll never know. Anyway, he goes through the band entrance, disguising himself with a wig and a pair of sunglasses (which obviously automatically made him look like he was part of the band), until he's able to reach the stage. When the lights go on, everyone is shocked to find this unknown guy behind the mic, who then goes on to dedicate a song to "ga", the most incredible girl which he just saw outside. He goes on to sing a few lines of the band's hit song. After that, the girl goes up to the stage to meet his knight in shining... err... teeth, to complete her introduction. And as with all Close Up commercials, they meet, they kiss, they fall in love with the minty taste of each others' tongues. The end. Well, not quite.
First of all, who the hell are Never the Strangers? Also, what kind of name is Never the Strangers? No one knew them before this commercial aired, yet they have throngs of fans that form an unstoppable human tsunami.
And this guy, who has the confidence to do anything he likes because he has white teeth, even going so far as to breach security and look like an idiot in front of an angry mob who can't wait to see an obscure band sing about moving closer, inch by inch. So confident in his fluorescent teeth that he didn't even notice how badly he sings. For a girl he just met. He knows nothing about her. Does she have a boyfriend? What things are she into, aside from bands with horrible names? Is she a pyromaniac who was there to set the whole place on fire? Nada. Zilch. No info about the girl, except that her name begins with "Ga". And he was willing to go through all that trouble just so he could ask for her whole name.
Is it romantic? Probably. Maybe in some reality which I am not a part of, people meet the most incredible people randomly at concerts all the time. But to my knowledge no guy would go through all that trouble for a girl he just met. Maybe if they were already together. Maybe if the guy did something horribly wrong that he needed to do these things to make up for it. But for someone you just met? Meh. I'd probably just wait for her outside. Or maybe try to find her inside. It probably won't be that hard since she is much more well-lighted than any other person in the crowd. And what if they got together after that? How can you top sneaking in the band entrance and actually getting up on stage and sing a few lines just for an introduction? I wonder how far he'll go for a marriage proposal.
In the end, the message that they would like you to get is that by brushing your teeth with Close Up, you get the confidence to do whatever you need to do to get laid. Was it successful in getting that message across? I don't know. I just know that I'm not doing anything like that even if my teeth glowed in the dark.
