Ad Log
Working in advertising, you get used to the twisted logic that permeates the business. This logic generally follows the lines of, "You know you want to buy (product x), because (product x) will make you happier / sexier / loved / successful, and (product y) doesn't do that as well." There is legitimately good advertising out there (or if not good then at least not condescending) but 90% of it, once you get passed the shininess of it, is a rehash of that.
This time of year though, it's delivered with spin - "You know you want to buy (product x), because (product x) will make you happier / sexier / loved / successful as well as being firmly associated with Christmas, and (product y) doesn't do that as well." That connection with a holiday where people are expected to spend money is golden.
What happens, though, is that sometimes things get thrown entirely out of whack.
Picture this:
Standard Christmas scene, warm colors. A mother and her son. Mother pulls a casserole out of the oven and puts it on the kitchen counter in front of a window. Outside, a decorated Christmas tree comes alive, reaches in under the sash and steals a, um, branchfull I guess, of the casserole, while the son looks on in wonder before an appropriately meaningless graphic drives the association home. ("The spirit of the holidays" or some such.)
The product? Campbell's cream of mushroom soup.
I don't know about you, but green bean casserole to me is the epitome of an unChristmas Meal. I'd think it was a joke if the thing wasn't so tenderly produced. Somebody out there actually believes, in their heart of hearts, that condensed soup = Christmas, and I truly hope that that person is happy in whatever their new career is.