Being that the heatwave (I’m trying really hard to not bitch about it too much here) has kept me confined to the living room more lately, I’ve been watching a bit more TV. This means I’ve been seeing a lot more commercials than I usually do. More and more, I’m seeing commercials I don’t get. Like, I’m not sure of the message they’re trying to send.

Specifically, shoe commercials seem to be getting stranger and stranger. Well, Adidas ones do anyway. A few months ago there was the Adidas commercial with the guy in a dream sequence with strange visuals to convey that, accompanied by a really trippy song that stuck with me. To be fair, it was a cool commercial really, and the song intrigued me enough to do some research. The commercial, titled Hello Tomorrow (when did commercials start getting titles??), is directed by Spike Jonze. The song was written by a relative of Spike’s (Sam Spiegel - did you know Spike Jonze was a Spiegel, as in the Spiegel catalog? I know far too much random trivia like that.) specifically for the commercial and was performed by Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s.

But as cool as all that was, and as interesting as the commercial was (both visually and audibly) what did it have to do with shoes? I mean, thanks for the taste of Spike Jonze brilliance and all, but it didn’t make me want to run out and buy Adidas shoes.

More recently, I’ve been seeing an Adidas commercial I flat out don’t get, and it doesn’t seem to be an art project like Hello Tomorrow. So I’m hoping someone can explain the idea to me.

We see a man running, and things explode or break as he runs by. A trampoline snaps, waterbeds explode, an inflatable playground collapses, and tires pop on parked cars and a passing truck. Then we see the tag line - “Cushioning that never quits” - as the camera zooms in on the tennis shoes.

The message I get from this spot? Buy these shoes and cause mass destruction as you go for your morning jog!

I’m guessing that’s not the message Adidas meant to send… can anyone explain what they’re trying to get across with this?