Don’t answer until the end. Also, the bear’s a nice touch.
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The Edge of the American West 
67 comments
October 29, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Ben Alpers
But The Man Can’t Bust Your Music 2008?
October 29, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Adam Kotsko
The appropriate measure of weirdness is the decibel level of your exclamation of “WHAT?!” at the end. By that measure, it’s up there, but I’m not prepared to say it’s the weirdest.
October 29, 2008 at 2:30 pm
ari
You’re a world-weary viewer, Adam. My “WHAT?!?!?!” could be heard up and down the hall. My colleagues were (and perhaps still are) concerned.
October 29, 2008 at 2:30 pm
megancase
Whoa.
October 29, 2008 at 2:31 pm
ari
I think you mean, “WHOA!!!!!” Right?
October 29, 2008 at 2:36 pm
rob
Bizarre.
October 29, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Sifu Tweety
Dude, what?
October 29, 2008 at 2:44 pm
andrew
If you figure they’re already together before the incident in the ad happens, it’s sort of meh. A little beyond the “Good morning, Sam” – “Good morning, Ralph” cartoons, because it’s a romance, but along the same lines.
October 29, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Buster
So opposing political views should be seen as consumer choices from which the market can learn how best to serve diverse interests?
That’s not weird.
That’s more of the same.
October 29, 2008 at 2:46 pm
andrew
The actual company advertising makes it weird, I guess.
October 29, 2008 at 2:47 pm
washerdreyer
The 30-second version of this airs regularly.
October 29, 2008 at 2:48 pm
ari
A little beyond the “Good morning, Sam” – “Good morning, Ralph” cartoons
Right. Well said.
The actual company advertising makes it weird, I guess.
Yeah, that’s the weird part.
October 29, 2008 at 2:50 pm
ari
The 30-second version of this airs regularly.
It does? I really need to stay in more. Regardless, now I have to see if YouTube has it. Nope, not finding it. Stoopid internetz.
October 29, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Ahistoricality
Aside from the fact that they actually try to make sense of the narrative, it reminds me of the complete non-sequitor ads I used to see in Japan: twenty-eight seconds of funky animated music video, followed by two seconds of insurance company logo; children dancing down the street, sponsored by beer; Sheena Easton in freaky kimono dancing around a giant shochu bottle…..
October 29, 2008 at 2:57 pm
John Emerson
The global meltdown has led to desperate measures.
Bailing hot chicks out of jail is a ploy that I, for one, have never thought of before.
October 29, 2008 at 2:57 pm
LizardBreath
I’ve been disturbed by this ad for awhile — like, I am genuinely and insanely worried about the emotional health of the characters portrayed therein. I reassure myself that the advertiser still isn’t getting anything out of it, because I can’t remember who they are.
October 29, 2008 at 2:57 pm
ari
Sheena Easton in freaky kimono dancing around a giant shochu bottle…..
So you’re saying the ecoterrorist ad is the second weirdest ever?
October 29, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Postman
Er… I should put my money in their bank because somebody’s probably not getting laid tonight?
October 29, 2008 at 4:47 pm
kid bitzer
at any rate, i’m glad that no trees were harmed in the filming of that ad.
but somebody’s ad account really ought to get canceled, and some creative types really ought to get canned.
October 29, 2008 at 5:43 pm
matt w
Exercise: Switch the music tracks of this and the Obama ad below.
October 29, 2008 at 6:29 pm
alwsdad
The bear is what really sends it into Weirdest Ever territory for me. It all looks very realistic, gritty even, until the guy in the bear suit makes an appearance.
October 29, 2008 at 6:58 pm
rja
I recognize the bear from the earlier safe cycling psa.
October 29, 2008 at 8:24 pm
bitchphd
I like it. It’s not that weird. The bear suit is part of the protesters; the guy who bails the girl out isn’t her partner, it’s her dad. She shoots him a dirty look–clearly he’s not thrilled with her ecoprotest activities–but at the end, she puts her arms around him. In the right part of the country, that would be an awesome ad.
October 29, 2008 at 8:41 pm
shadowcook
When I looked at the ad with Ari, I understood why he thought it was weird. But, now, I think Bitch has the better take on it.
October 29, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Sifu Tweety
He’s not her dad.
No way.
They’re married.
October 29, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Vance
She calls him “honey”.
This makes for an instructive comparison with the Obamamercial (infobama?). Two slick modes of being superficially not-slick.
October 29, 2008 at 11:33 pm
The Constructivist
The weirdest part is HSBC staking their claim on customer service. I brought a speaker to campus last year whose HSBC account got so messed up they wouldn’t even accept deposits or royalty checks. Kinda soured me on them, even if they do sponsor a great women’s golf tournament.
October 30, 2008 at 6:29 am
kid bitzer
if the guy is her dad, then the director is even more inept than i’d thought.
there are standard filmic ways of saying ‘dad’, and standard filmic ways of saying ‘romantic partner’.
the use of the motorcycle–and even the shots of it–are standard ways of saying ‘romantic partner’.
a dad would drive an older sedan, or possibly a pickup truck. her climbing into the cab would be a reentry into safety, comfort, familiarity–home.
climbing onto the back of a bike is danger, novelty, uncertainty, romance.
i’m not makin this shit up–these are just totally bog-standard cliches of film (& story and song und und und).
i don’t know if they’re previously married, or whether the hot lumber-jack with the looong bar on his chain-saw is picking up a girl he’d never seen before or whether they’re boy-friend and girl-friend who just act out over old-growth forests or what.
but they ain’t father and daughter.
nice of b. to think so, though.
October 30, 2008 at 7:15 am
silbey
“She calls him “honey”.”
I’m pretty sure she calls him “Henry.”
But I agree with the others: romantic partner.
October 30, 2008 at 7:47 am
The Modesto Kid
niceŒdipal of b. to think so, thoughFixed that for you.
October 30, 2008 at 8:11 am
touhy
The weird part? There’s a bank that has money for advertising. Oh, WAMU, we hardly knew ye….
October 30, 2008 at 8:12 am
eric
In the right part of the country
Which country? The ad says “recognise”, doesn’t it?
October 30, 2008 at 8:14 am
Ahistoricality
Sheena Easton in freaky kimono dancing around a giant shochu bottle…..
So you’re saying the ecoterrorist ad is the second weirdest ever?
I remember it being freakier than this, but I don’t have time for a full-bore search right now.
In general, the non sequitur quotient of Japanese advertising is very, very high.
October 30, 2008 at 8:24 am
dana
The bear suit is part of the protesters; the guy who bails the girl out isn’t her partner, it’s her dad.
On a motorcycle? Daddy’s a little weird.
October 30, 2008 at 8:27 am
eric
Mummy’s all right—Daddy’s all right—they just seem a little weird, dana.
October 30, 2008 at 8:52 am
Neddy Merrill
Eric, I think that song is about ten times weirder than the ad. Plus it has a truck driver’s gear shift in it, which is a red-state music theory metaphor if there ever was one.
October 30, 2008 at 8:53 am
josh carrollhach
Joanna Newsom (the singer, I believe) is so weird that whatever you do or see while hearing her music also becomes weird. This commercial is super weird. I’m going to go out and be like Nell now.
October 30, 2008 at 9:35 am
bitchphd
On a motorcycle? Daddy’s a little weird.
Um, no one knows families where dad rides a motorcycle?
October 30, 2008 at 9:46 am
dana
Not where the daughter calls him honey and hugs him around the waist, no. But basically, what kb said: in something like a commercial, snuggles on motorcycles mean lovers, not dads.
The guy doesn’t look old enough to be her dad, either.
October 30, 2008 at 9:56 am
bitchphd
Holding on to the person in front of you is how you *ride* a motorcycle.
I’ll concede the honey; I missed that. But he does look old enough to be her dad. We’re talking about Pac NW timber towns, yes? You people need to travel more.
October 30, 2008 at 10:00 am
bitchphd
Wait a second. Having watched it again, where does she call him “honey”? She says *something* to him as he’s going to work and she’s getting arrested, but what she says isn’t clear at all.
And he is definitely older, late 30s at least, and she looks about 15. They’re not a couple.
October 30, 2008 at 10:01 am
josh carrollhach
It would be better if it was a Weyerhauser ad. Something along the lines of “Goddamned tree huggers.”
October 30, 2008 at 10:10 am
silbey
She says “Henry,” not “honey” (I can’t believe I’m spending this much time on it)
October 30, 2008 at 10:23 am
bitchphd
What does she say, exactly? Transcript!
October 30, 2008 at 11:08 am
dana
She looks 15? She looked 25-30 to me.
October 30, 2008 at 11:25 am
kid bitzer
she was just 17.
(if you know what i mean).
i take it that none of this was documentary, right? it was all staged, with actors playing cops, actors playing protesters (not “ecoterrorists”, ari, you bloggoterrorist), actors playing loggers, actor playing bear, etc.
what do you think this cost? hiring a dozen cop cars. and a crane. getting a stunt-cop to fall out of the rope-ladder. renting a jail.
3 million?
October 30, 2008 at 11:26 am
eric
Eric, I think that song is about ten times weirder than the ad.
Neddy, why do you hate my people?
October 30, 2008 at 11:28 am
Josh
Mummy’s all right—Daddy’s all right—they just seem a little weird, dana.
You got your Kiss record out, eric?
October 30, 2008 at 11:36 am
josh
The song is “Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie” by Joanna Newsom.
I’m sure the prominently featured woman says either “honey” or “Henry” but either way that wouldn’t be her dad.
The fact that they ride off on a motorcycle is, to me, for the same reasons that the entire ad is about this struggle over ideals…
…if I had to guess I’d say the ad is about appealing to a generation.
October 30, 2008 at 11:40 am
Josh
Hey, pick a new handle, n00b.
October 30, 2008 at 11:41 am
eric
You got your Kiss record out, eric?
Wow, that’s just … so wrong, Josh. So very, very wrong. Big, big penalty points.
October 30, 2008 at 11:44 am
Josh
Wow, that’s just … so wrong, Josh. So very, very wrong. Big, big penalty points.
You haven’t listened to the song lately, have you?
October 30, 2008 at 11:49 am
JPool
As best I can make out, she says “You happy (now), Henry?” After a beat he mutters, “Selfish [inaudible].”
She looks >30 and he looks <40. Especially given that we’re supposed to imagine that he works outside for a living, he has awfully smooth skin.
It’s really a beautifully conceived and produced ad. I love the small details, like the older stone-faced activist putting his glasses away as the police roll up (the bear I could take or leave). I just can’t believe that it’s selling what it claims to be selling. Buster’s reading is cute, but seriously, I should put my money in a (giant) bank because they claim to understand both sides of the logging issue? (Also on banks “caring” about their customers, see the last section of this. I’m not sure what it should be an ad for though. Some kind of religion? Or a PSA on times-are-hard-but-family-and-something? Thoughts?
October 30, 2008 at 11:52 am
kid bitzer
“I’m not sure what it should be an ad for though.”
why you need better anti-cop booby-traps around your tree-house.
October 30, 2008 at 11:57 am
eric
Josh, I think you’re identifying me with the narrator of the song, which is not exactly my point of entry, there.
October 30, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Buster
JPool, I like it when people call my interpretations cute. I hope my committee does that in about a year.
Turns out, this is part of HSBC re-branding, along with taking out a 24-page ad buy in New York magazine:
As soon as I saw this, I ran over to my toilet and grabbed New York from its rack. Sure enough, there were 24 pages of ads there. How successful is this campaign? I hadn’t noticed one of them hitherto. But maybe I was just distracted by the TDIH story on Sid and Nancy:
http://nymag.com/arts/popmusic/features/51394/
Any which way, it looks like HSBC needs to be talking to their ad people. Don Draper, they ain’t.
October 30, 2008 at 12:13 pm
The Modesto Kid
I’m not sure what it should be an ad for though
Could be a music video, maybe for something by Grant Lee Phillips or REM, I guess. I agree it doesn’t relate too well to banking or to advertising product. For some reason I’ve developed a strong idea that it’s taking place in Vineland.
October 30, 2008 at 1:36 pm
figbash
I am not entirely sure why I have decided that this is worth pointing out but at 1:23ish it is clear to me that the woman is wearing a wedding band. I don’t think this is supposed to be a father and daughter. kinda love the song though…
October 30, 2008 at 1:57 pm
jms
That bear is everywhere.
October 30, 2008 at 5:45 pm
nick
wrong hand for a wedding band; she’s too young to be married anyway unless her name is “Palin”–I’m with Bitch here; Kid B’s points about traditional ad tropes would persuade me, but whoever shot this don’t know from traditional ads….
October 30, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Just1moreMA
Yes, married (she calls her dad Henry?), ring is on the ring finger, left hand, she’s in her late 20s, early 30s, he’s about 39 or 42, and she calls him “selfish” not the other way around. Definitely a love story–love (or sex) transcends complex socioeconomic questions about the world and our place in it, yeah? And then there’s the joint checking account for bailing your wife out of jail after she pours sugar in your bulldozer. Tell me, man or woman executive gave the ok on that ad?
October 30, 2008 at 10:17 pm
bitchphd
She looks >30 and he looks <40. Especially given that we’re supposed to imagine that he works outside for a living, he has awfully smooth skin.
She looks over 30 in what universe? The same one where most women weigh about 100 lbs? And he has gray hair. And *of course* he has smooth skin–he’s an *actor*. With a bald head, and not a sexy shaved bald head, either, b/c there’s a remaining ring of hair. Which is code for “old” in, you know, ads and television.
Plus if they’re married it doesn’t make sense, but if they’re father and daughter–which you know, fits in with existing cultural narratives about protesters vs. workers–it does. (And yes, there are older protesters pictured, which is part of that whole “helping you sympathize with the protesters” thing that’s going on, but the older people aren’t the main character. It’s sort of like existing cultural narratives about race, despite the fact that occasionally there’s a background character who isn’t white.)
October 30, 2008 at 10:28 pm
andrew
If it’s father and daughter it’s still meh. Actually, it’s more meh. Different generations in a family are (stereotypically or cultural trope-ically, or whatever) more supposed to have different political views than are romantic couples. So if they’re not partners, the end isn’t really a surprise and if they were trying to make it one, they failed. Either way it’s still an odd ad for a bank. I’m not going to watch the ad again, but there’s no way she looks under 20, unless it’s by the standard set by over 20s playing high schoolers in tv or films.
October 30, 2008 at 10:41 pm
ari
unless it’s by the standard set by over 20s playing high schoolers in tv or films
Where I come from, this is known as the Gabrielle Carteris standard.
October 31, 2008 at 4:12 am
kid bitzer
have to remember, hollywood always uses absurdly young-looking actors for playing blog-proprietors.
if you’ve seen ari or eric on camera, you probably thought, ‘is he even out of high school? is it plausible to have him teaching college when he looks like a freshman?’
but they’re actually a bit older than they look. good make-up, good lighting, good genes–it all puts across the illusion. note the wedding rings.
October 31, 2008 at 7:40 am
Matt W
How successful is this campaign? I hadn’t noticed one of them hitherto.
Well, a near-indistinguishable campaign (instead of showing one thing three times, it shows two things twice) has been dominating the jetways at La Guardia for a while. It has been successful at getting me annoyed at HSBC, which probably means it’s successful.
October 31, 2008 at 9:12 am
News Roundup | a Conservation Blog
[…] callous-handed locals? (Those days are behind us, right? right? ) Reminiscing, I like to think of this HSBC ad, perhaps most perplexing commercial ever made, as a period piece. Posted by Brian on October […]