Fox on trampoline

I don’t watch much TV. I turn it on maybe a half-dozen times a year. One of several reasons is all the commercials. They’re for stuff I don’t need and are annoying.

So why would I travel a half hour to pay money to sit in a theater to watch 80 minutes of commercials?

Because they’re the winners of the British Arrows for excellence in commercials. And the Brits have an unusual sense of humor.

This was put on by the Detroit Film Theater. I had seen previous winner reels before (also presented by the DFT), though they hadn’t done it for a couple years. Some of these films are what we Americans expect from a commercial, others appear to be 3-4 minute short stories. Some of my favorites:

Skittles, of Mars/Wrigley. The teenage boy is throwing skittles at his girlfriend’s window to get her attention. She doesn’t respond because she is catching the skittles in her mouth. After a few catches she scoots over so others can also catch skittles – her brother, dad, grandma, policeman, and the family pet.

Harry and Ahmed, for UNICEF. Harry was a child when he left Nazi Germany as a refugee. Ahmed is a child now, a refugee from Syria. We see how similar their stories are.

Tumbleweeds, for Pearl and Dean, showing some of the additional jobs needed by the movie industry. In this one we meet the woman who trains tumbleweeds to roll across the scene at just the right time in Western movies.

Unlimited You, for Nike. First we see people encouraged to take up sports. Then we see them going to extremes, such as woman diving off a cliff and a child ready to skateboard down a San Francisco hill.

Duel, for Audi. We see a man and a woman fighting it out and crashing into things in a posh hotel, but the film is played backwards so we see all the upset trays being reassembled. At the end we see they are two valets vying for who gets to drive the Audi (at least I think so).

Buster the Boxer. At Christmas the parents buy a trampoline for their boy and install it in the yard after dark. The animals – foxes, badger, squirrels, and others find it and have fun. Buster is stuck inside, watching. The next morning as the boy is allowed out the dog races past and jumps inside first.

The best of the year was We’re the Superhumans, for Paralympics. We first see a drummer without arms who holds the sticks in his feet followed by a singer and a band of differently abled people as they play in the background to accompany other paralympians do all kinds of other wonderful stuff, such as sports from wheelchairs and dancers with artificial legs.

I see from the website that not all of the winners were included in the show I saw tonight. I may have to watch them online, perhaps tomorrow. You can watch them here.