Is any one else bugged with the quality of swimming shown in commercials. It is very rare to see any one who is at all smooth in the water. It especially bugs me in health club ads as they are showing what people are striving for & the swimmers are flailers.(There is a lite beer ad where a man & a women are racing & they are clearly swimmers) Surely there must be some actors who really swim.
YES! It does drive me crazy! There is a commercial for a birth control patch that shows a woman "swimming" with TERRIBLE form. Her head is soo high her eyes are almost out of the water, her feet are sinking and her hand is going in the water right in front of her face. With that kind of stroke, she probably couldn't swim too far! It is sooo irritating to me. Why don't they hire real swimmers. It would be much more believeable. On a positive note...there is a great Nike commercial that shows a masters runner. We need to write Nike and tell them to do an ad with a masters swimmer modeling their suit! :)
I actually like the cholesterol drug commercial. They guy doing the swimming is SO BAD that I can tell folks DON'T let this happen to your stroke, and liken it to his cholesterol count, rather than his other stats.
Matt
For Christmas I got Season one of "Felicity" on DVD, a drama about college. One of the characters, Ben, tries out for the swim team, and in order to make the team he has to do a 100 free under :55. (He makes it.) He looks okay in the water but he breathes every stroke! Tsk Tsk.
I thought I was the only one looking at the cholesterol guy thinking that he head a neat looking "advanced dog paddle".
How about the guy and girl racing across the backyard pool for a refreshing bottle of beer? Of course ...she wins. And is already one sip into her drink before he finishes. How's that for some pool etiquette? :)
I personally think the new anti drug commercials are great. They show activities that real kids do (basketball, swimming, school, pregnancy issues) and the impact of drugs on them.
Originally posted by aquageek
I personally think the new anti drug commercials are great. They show activities that real kids do (basketball, swimming, school, pregnancy issues) and the impact of drugs on them.
IMO, the problem is they aren't realistic at all. I think to most kids they would be laughably stupid, but obviously others may see them differently.
OK, enough about this. Definitely getting off topic! :)
"For Christmas I got Season one of "Felicity" on DVD, a drama about college. One of the characters, Ben, tries out for the swim team, and in order to make the team he has to do a 100 free under :55. (He makes it.) He looks okay in the water but he breathes every stroke! Tsk Tsk."
Just a comment but first...I used to watch Felicity alot when it was on tv..I dont think I ever remember that episode. My question is this: what's wrong with breathing every stroke? I do depending how tired I am and how hard my workout is, but I usually breath at least 3 times (in a 25 meter pool).
It's not just swimming. Most movies and commercials with golfers feature actors who swing like hackers. That includes Kevin Costner in "Tin Cup". I also notice that chess positions that occur in TV or movies are generally not plausible positions. A certain episode of "Columbo" comes to mind, in which a supposed chess master falls victim to a two-move checkmate that any beginner knows how to avoid. Actors playing the roles of violinists and pianists generally cannot fool me either. Then there are the actors who weave in and out of their characters' accents. Think of Kevin Costner again, trying to maintain a British accent in Robin Hood -- or any number of actors puffing out over-inflected Southern accents.
Bottom line seems to be that actors generally can't fool the experts (or devoted enthusiasts, or native speakers, or the semi-conscious, etc.) when it comes to special skills. Come to think of it, a lot of them can't act, either.
Wow, me agreeing with Aquageek. It feels strange.
I don't believe I've seen the new anti-drug commercials, but I would be inclined to grant them a little artistic license. Keep in mind they have about 30 seconds to illustrate in a memorable fashion the physical, psycological, legal, financial and political effects on individuals and communities of chronic, compulsive use controlled substances. A little reasoning by analogy is not out of line. Remember the old ad, "This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs." Does one snort of cocaine litterally cause your skull to crack open and you brain to fall into a hot frying pan? No (but one snort of cocaine did cause a fatal heart attack in Len Bias--a conditioned, professional athlete), but we get the picture.
In my opinion (to stray farther afield) some of the best anti-drug messages resulted from the much maligned policy of rewarding network TV programs for anti-drug messages they incorporated into the plot line. I don't want to stray into the ethics of the government paying producers to insert a message in popular shows, but when a show like E.R. presents a highly realistic and unflattering picture of what can happen to people who abuse drugs, that image stays with you far longer than any public service announcement.
Matt
