WORLD’S BEST COMMERCIALS CANNES 1991

If you’re turned on by TV advertising, as a consumer of culture or a media professional, you’ll appreciate WORLD’S BEST COMMERCIALS CANNES 1991, a movie consisting entirely of 103 award-winning commercials from 15 countries. Winners were selected from almost 4,000 entries by an international, 23-member jury at the Cannes Festival in France. Now, the movie is enjoying a brief at selected theaters. As an anthology of advertising, WORLD’S BEST COMMERCIALS CANNES 1991 explores cultural norms and differences, modes of persuasion, technical innovation, and the boundaries of decency. Sure, they’re supposed to sell products. But what do the dimwitted goof-ups of NAKED GUN’s Lt. Frank Drebin have to do with promoting Red Rock Cider? Well, by spoofing the product’s name (“It’s not red, and it has no rocks in it.”), the tag-line leaves an indelible imprint in our minds. Bingo! The company’s name recognition skyrockets, and so does product consumption. The medium is the message, but some ads resort to dirty tricks to get our attention. One British lottery commercial depicts a housewife screaming at a flasher wearing nothing but a raincoat. While the lotto commercial implies nudity rather than showing it, Australia goes further: A topless female inside a truckload of beer. @@@Such perverse innuendo wouldn’t be shown on American TV, thanks to decency standards enforced by the Federal Communication Commission. If we ever abandon our guidelines, WORLD’S BEST COMMERCIALS CANNES 1991 is proof of how suggestive and out-of-control TV can become.