Why the new Palm Pre ads aren't creepy

Perhaps I watch the wrong TV shows.

Perhaps the subliminal machinators on high know that I've just upgraded to yet another wonderfully simple and understandable Nokia.

But I've yet to see the new Palm Pre ads on TV.

However, there seems to have been such a wondrous outpouring of bile in their direction that it was only a matter of time before I suffered some splatter.

So I wafted off to YouTube to see what all the puss was about. What I saw was a rather ethereal woman's head whispering to me in a way that, frankly, I wish so many people would, but don't.

Too many ads shout, sing, stomp, and shove their shrill shill in the direction of your eyes, your gullet or simply your wallet.

At least this series, featuring an actress who looks like a rather sweet offspring of Tilda Swinton, has a heart.

Palm Pre is trying to tell you this one little thing: "Bloody hell, this portable telephony cacophony is getting out of hand. Buy a Palm Pre. It's like a pleasant waft of marijuana in a very nutty world."

This seems to me like a perfectly reasonable suggestion.

Here is a phone that appears to offer a fussless way to navigate the less than still waters of your daily existence.

The lady is whispering because you'd like a little calm in your life. You'd like a little sense in your day. And you'd like not to have to leap on every new video of a golfer passing wind as if it was the second passing of superior humor.

This campaign is not, as some have suggested, aimed specifically at women any more than the KFC logo is aimed specifically at white Southern chaps with rifles.

Of course, the agency that created the work, Modernista! (oh, yes, do they need that exclamation point!), claims it was inspired by the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics and it wants everyone to be talking about its work.

However, what it's really created for Palm Pre is an atmosphere, a mood, a pleasant order of things, a relief that so many people crave.

One suspects that many of those who accuse this work of being creepy enjoy movies where animated animals suck blood and speak in tongues. These people are also often afraid of clowns.

Of course, these things are always subjective. But you want creepy, my friends? Politicians are creepy.

[Kripkraw]

I agree, it's a pleasant change from the whiplash inducing, techno blasting gob of crap that we are incessantly bombarded with. They should just try to incorporate more pre and it's features.

[jessiethe3rd]

They are geared for the female population (which is smart)... they're not bad... not particularly good.

[pjhenry1216]

I didn't feel they were geared towards the female population at all. It actually made me more interested in the phone than I initially was. Thats something a commercial hasn't done for me in awhile. It actually made me think of the product in a better light. Btw, I'm a guy.

[davidmcelroy_dotmac]

I don't see the ad as especially good OR bad. It's just sort of bland and unmemorable.

[pegjs]

Agree. But if this came on while I was watching tv, I would take notice for the fact that the author writes about - it's a nice break from the shouting, in-your-face commerical now on tv that drive me insane.

[Swimatm]

Yes, they are creepy. You seem to have fallen under their spell.

[ecotopian--2008]

This is a very effective ad. It stands out among all the nerve-jangling hyped up junk in the media, by being peaceful and appealing to a different side of us. I am buying an iPhone, not the Pre, but I like this ad. It kinda reminds me of Apple's ads, only spacier.

[timmy1234s]

Wow. If you look at it from a different POV, it actually is a good ad. Good job palm! Now I like the ads and I'm starting to look at them in a different way. Wonder if apple follow this in their next ad compaign.

[tomeroo]

I was hoping that I could order the remote control monks.

[stockyjoe]

The first time wasnt bad. After that they are a bit annoying and creepy. But hey here we are talking about these damn commercials so from a marketing perspective they were successful.

[Perry_Clease]

"The first time wasnt bad. After that they are a bit annoying"

A bit, but it could certainly be worse. The HeadOn and FreeCreditReport.com ads come to "mind."

[JigenIII]

They should have just gone with:

"Palm Pre. Buy it instead of the iPhone.
Palm Pre. Buy it instead of the iPhone.
Palm Pre. Buy it instead of the iPhone."

[Ty-Rant]

If you have to explain that something isn't creepy, then it's a good bet that it is...simple as that. Personally I dislike the whole concept of a sterile-albino-android being explaining how her entire life was out-of-whack until she got herself a telephone. Good Lord! If you have to get a little device to get your life in order I'd say you probably have bigger problems than any device can fix. Anyway...as the old saying goes, if it doesn't appeal to you then you probably weren't the target. Clearly I was not the target.

[gerrrg]

Officially, the Pre is the third 'fussless' UI, which makes it...oh I dunno...OLD?

[uptheironsrafi]

"going Bing, Bing , Bing"
LOL. Guess some people at Redmond are really pleased with this ad.

[jture]

The actress is an actual person? I thought she was computer-generated. She just doesn't look quite real to me.

[pjhenry1216]

Personally, I liked the ads. It makes you feel like the phone integrates with your life in such a natural way that everything is just more... relaxing. Everything just... flows. =P

[Agrainofsalt]

Love it. I Live for those days, the green lights, the perfect golf drive, my son coming home and saying "hi dad" with a smile and not asking for $50, opening my email to find only necessary messages; the perfect day. Is that so creepy? Well, maybe the bit about my son not asking for $50 is a bit creepy.

[purpleLightning]

Nah, they're just creepy. Somewhere between whispering and shouting there is a happy medium which these ads eschew for their own brand of extremism. A "whiff of marijuana"? A stoner would be as wigged out by these commercials as most others. And the icing on the cake, showing the Pre at the end of the commercial TURNED OFF. Yes, the ad agency behind these ads certainly got some attention for *themselves* but I'm not sure what they do for the Pre.

[setgo]

Well think about it. If you have to write an article saying than an ad is NOT creepy... Why are you having to start with a very specific negative if it is not what you say. Of course it's creepy or you wouldn't even be addressing it from that view. Otherwise the title would be Why I Like the New Palm Ads or something along those lines. If you want to find out the truth, take a poll, but don't try convincing me otherwise.

[fcz1]

This ad is creepy. Tilda Swinton is creepy and Tilda Swinton look-alikes are even creepier.

[tgibbs]

It's one of the few ads I don't fast forward through. The actress is attractive, and the distant, pastoral landscape recalls Renaissance paintings. The style reminds me a bit of the wonderful Tilda Swinton movie, "Orlando." The tone, calm, but slightly amused, is pleasant. I also find it a nice break from aggressive adds that assault you with loud, compressed sound and fast cuts. And I think that it makes precisely the points that Palm needs to make: Easy, intuitive, mult-tasking. The subtext is that a Palm Pre will bring calmness and order to your busy, complicated life.

[jpm1983a]

To me this looks like a rip off of (or a nod to) Vanilla Sky. That same song is in the movie, the actress looks like Tilda Swinton who is in the movie, and it's like the presentation for LE in the movie.

[celticbrewer]

I think she looks a hundred times hotter than Tilda Swinton. But kudos on the Vanila Sky comparison. You're right on with that one.