German advertising

Now that I have begun to stay home more often and watch German TV more, I have noticed that German advertising is quite good. When I was in Japan, I did not enjoy their adverts so much (to be fair, not understanding a word of the language was probably a significant hindrance in appreciation. Also, on most nights, I only watched TV after 11 and not during prime time). Japanese ads are too simplistic and crude as compared to Indian or German ads (or so I think).

I went to the cinema recently to see Casino Royale. Before the movie, a long stream of advertisements was shown. I really enjoyed two ads. One was an ad about the new Mini - it featured a car going through a maize field. As it passed, the corn passed through its bonnet (and presumably its engine) and turned into popcorn filling up the car interior. Don't think it sounds as nice in these words, but I really enjoyed watching it (and who knows the tagphrase at the end might have been funnier).

The second featured three men in a wilderness sitting around a campfire playing poker. One of them says (in German), "I like the movie 'Brokeback mountain.'" The other men immediately get up and walk away! The announcer then says something about an online poker website, where one can play even if one is alone, I guess. The man's expression when he said his line is really funny!

There were other ads too which had the audience in splits. But I could not understand them, because of my limited German :(