Normally, Andrew and Vieves look at ads that air between the TV shows they watch, but this week, they consider what happens when the TV shows try to get in on the commercial action. Plus, a listener email sends Andrew out a whole new door.
Vieves takes over the first half of the show this week to talk about a new strategy from The General, and Andrew administers a quiz that answers the question: is there any gimmick that's too dumb for beer makers to try? Plus, an eagle-eyed Ad Councilor spots a crack in the matrix.
After two weeks of muzzling the Ad Council in favor of their own hot takes, Andrew and Vieves turn the show over to listener reactions to Super Bowl ads, jingle singers, and one terrible local ad that constitutes a true commergency.
In what turned out to be a pretty good year for Super Bowl ads, Andrew and Vieves turn in a monster of a show as they attempt to select the weirdest, funniest, famous-est, and all-around bestest to receive the inaugural Bowlie Awards. Be sure to pee first - it's a long one.
Awards season starts early this year with the inaugural Bowlies! Andrew and Vieves bestow the soon-to-be-coveted Bowlie awards on the best of this year's crop of Super Bowl ads. Find out who's in the running before next week's big ceremony.
Andrew and Vieves look at ads that feature phone calls between parents and children. So if you haven't called your mom or dad this week, just listen to this episode instead. Also, Andrew is full-on obsessed with finding a commercial he thinks he saw, and Progressive spotlights their newest star in a web extra.
It's business time and Andrew and Vieves are making the business of business their business, looking at ads from big companies featuring little companies doing all the work. Plus, dandruff gives women one more thing to worry about, and a listener reveals a surprising connection to convicted criminal and cult leader Keith Raniere.
Andrew and Vieves take a cue from (allegedly) Ernest Hemingway and construct six word stories about their favorite and least favorite new commercials. Plus, children's toys somehow keep getting worse.
Andrew and Vieves get some help from the Ad Council as they ring in the new year, including a cherry-flavored blast from the past, a questionable Santa, and some pleas for help from listeners who are looking for ads of their youth.
'Tis the season for new year's resolutions, and from losing weight to getting organized, Americans' top ten most common resolutions feature a lot of the usual suspects. Andrew and Vieves consider ads that might - in theory - help people keep those resolutions.
Andrew and Vieves wade into the weeds of disclaimers, warnings, and other assorted dodges hiding in commercials' fine print. This week's episode was recorded on a closed course. Do not attempt! Meanwhile, the Ad Council discusses campaigns that evolve over time.
TBTL host and perennial After-These-Messages content pirate Luke Burbank joins Andrew and Vieves to evaluate this year's crop of commercial Santa Clauses. Plus, it's a great week for jingles, and it's possible that Luke's mom has been an imposter this whole time.
A Geico ad campaign has got Andrew and Vieves playing a modified MASH game to see how their lives might turn out under different circumstances. Plus New Zealand continues to dominate in the PSA game, and the devil meets his Match.com
Andrew outdoes himself by creating a new segment that's sure to earn him a spot in the rhyming hall of fame. Plus, Andy's Corner is back with a grim window into the sexual politics of the past, and one Ad Councilor has some serious pipes.
With quarantine dragging on through the holidays, America turns its lonely eyes to boozing it up solo, a fact that hasn't been lost on advertisers. Plus, one listener shines a light on an uplifting ad and another has beef with a laundry machine seller.
Andrew and Vieves are joined by friend and Star Trek Supernerd Ben Harrison who, as the host of not one but TWO Trek-themed podcasts, is happy to school them on the subtle intricacies of ads that boldly go where no ad has gone before. Plus, Ben reveals just how badly Andrew stepped in it by critiquing an advertising bigwig.
There is a special breed of podcasters who have also found work pitching everything from laptops to denim. Andrew and Vieves look at podcasters in commercials this week, and a listener discovers the world's worst thing.
Among the grab bag of adcolades and admonishments this week, Andrew and Vieves look at a new bid for sonic branding by HBO, a Progressive campaign with questionable writing, and a FedEx campaign that has Genevieve concerned for the intellectual property of her favorite sport. Plus, it's parody songs and jingles galore from the Ad Council.
A Bud Light ad in heavy rotation sends Andrew on a quixotic hunt for commercials that take place *inside* appliances. Plus, a fan favorite from Progressive Insurance turns out to have real acting chops.
Usually, Andrew and Vieves have to muster up their own hot takes on the commercials they cover, but it turns on that on Twitter, they're just giving them away for free! It's a twitter takeover this week, plus, a diet shake ad makes everyone nostalgic.
With the season of spookiness upon us, Andrew and Vieves spend this week's show looking at ads that embrace the horror. Plus, a confused fast food chain leaves an equally confusing musical legacy.
With Snoop Dogg talking to Bad Bunny on a "shell phone", an office worker talking to someone on a coconut phone, and sports fans calling their moms on football phones, Andrew and Genevieve try to answer the biggest question of our day: What even IS a phone anymore? They also cop to a Very Big Whiff (TM).
Like a dog that chases a car, but wouldn't know what to do if he caught one, advertisers sometimes find themselves with a celebrity spokesperson that they can't make good use of. Andrew and Vieves look at commercials that are wasting some high-dollar stars. Plus, the universe is trying to tell Andrew something about an old friend via an ad for a shingles vaccine.
Fast food purveyors across the land are making the case for calorie bombs with extreme close-up shots and lots of slow-mo. It's food porn for the great unwashed. Plus, it's Jingle Time....almost.
Dogs may be the species most affected by the various dings, squeaks and buzzes emanating from commercials, but this week Andrew and Vieves look at all kinds of ads that manage to intrude on our real lives in all sorts of ways. Plus, a pickle jingle for the ages.
If commercials are any guide, literally NO ONE is #TooBlessedToBeStressed. This week, Andrew and Vieves (with an assist from the New York Times) look at ads that claim to offer a solution to the madness. Plus, listeners confess to the gross games lurking in their toy chests.
Andrew and Vieves are having a bowl this week -- from the cheeky new ads by Dole to the bewildering campaign for America's grimiest pastime. Plus, Mercedes Benz gives us all a valuable lesson in women's history.
Kids have always loved disgusting stuff, but Andrew and Vieves wonder if adults haven't taken it too far by marketing games that have kids getting sprayed by toilet water and scrambling after loose turds. Plus, in what can only be one more sign of the apocalypse, Pitbull has a cruise ship.
The continuing uncertainty of quarantine requirements have marketers taking wild swings and sending mixed messages about how people can safely consume their products. Plus, Andrew and Vieves are relieved to discover that bullying remains one of nature's most effective tactics.
Jack in the Box's new "Menutaur" mascot gets dragged this week, while comedians Fred Armisen and Amy Shumer surprise and delight. Also, the Mandy Patinkin story just gets weirder and weirder.
