[ Thanks to Britta Wuelfing for this
link. ]
“Unfortunately, after looking at the winners and many
of the other entries, I conclude that they couldn’t.“From one perspective, the winners successfully imitated the
structure of professional ads. The winner and the first runner up
in particular captured perfectly the unctuous cadences of a
voiceover speaking vaguely mystical generalities. With
stereotypical electronic music looping in the background, the
winner recited a list of answers to its initial question, “What
does it mean to be free?” The first runner-up lacked the music
(although it did have sound effects), but went on in equally vague
terms about evolution.“Given my mental ad-blocker, I had to watch both several times
before I could absorb them, because I kept tuning them out. I’d
seen their like before countless times, so they had the effect that
any cliche does: I stopped paying attention, even when I made a
conscious effort”