Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Kay Jewelry's Illiterate Commercial

I'm really sick of the Kay Jewelry television commercial that seems to be running incessantly right now. It features a little girl watching her mother and father break a wishbone.

First of all, whoever directed this spot is a total moron. He or she has no idea how to place a camera and manages to cross the stage line with just about every cut. It's horrible. You can't follow what's going on, who is looking at whom and most importantly, who actually wins the wishbone-pulling contest. It's kind of important to the premise of the spot.

But even worse is the dialog, written I presume by Kay's crack advertising agency. As the couple is pulling the wishbone they explain the process to their daughter. They say, pretty much in unison:

Whoever gets the bigger half --- gets --- their --- wish.

I know I'm being pedantic, but this drives me nuts!

First of all, there is no such thing as a "bigger half." By definition, half is half - equivalent to the other half. Same size. All they had to say is "piece" and I'd not be writing this rant.

But they make it worse with the rest of the sentence. "Whoever....gets their..." Come on! You can't use a singular subject and plural pronoun - even if most people incorrectly talk this way. One of the people pulling the wishbone does NOT get "their" wish, because neither one of them is more than one person. Stupid!

I'm sick of this spot and can't wait for the holiday season to end so I don't have to scream at the TV any more. (And yes, I know, I really need a life.)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well, If you saw the commercial more then once then you're lucky. I was trying to catch it, but only got to see it once. My daughter actually auditioned for this and actually had a callback. I will tell you that the director is a well known director and has a lot of credit's under his belt and you will have your tail between your legs when you find out who he is. He is the nicest director I have ever encountered and is extremely good with children. I think it was the Kay's executive's that were directing the director. I witnessed this first hand. As far as the dialogue, I kind of agree. Though It seemed cute when we were rehearsing it with our daughter.
I think you actually have to have children to appreciate the simplicity behind the dialogue.
Kay's commercials have always been a bit cheesy but most woman love them. The problem is.. the girl they used was not any better then my daughter and definitely not as cute. ;)