Wednesday 7 March 2007

Lizard Love Story - sad or funny?



Ian MacDonald at JWT pointed me towards yet another "sad-vertisement" from Asia, as covered by FishnChimps. It's a lizard love story from Publicis, Thailand, and it's dripping with tragedy. FishnChimps describes it as "perverse and unusual with a twist of evil" but equally "fantastic" and "with some comically bad acting thrown in as a bonus".


I like the ad, but I'm a bit of a purist. And I wonder if the comic rendering of this sad tale makes the ad all the less brave and less impactful. Personally, I think it's a million miles away from being perverse (although it is a damn sight braver than anything I've seen in the UK recently).


What do you think? Is this sad-vertising? Could it be done without the comedy? Do we only feel a cartoon empathy for the lizards? Or is it the real deal?