Rick Rossner

[silverscreenselect]

The commercial is very poorly done, unlike the far more clever ones Burger King has been running comparing Whoppers to Big Macs among people who have never eaten hamburgers.

Rightly or not, Rossner is presumed to be the "spokesperson" for Domino's in the commercial and he is shown essentially insulting a child and bragging about how smart he is. If people even remember it's a Domino's commercial (which has confused even some of us on the Bored), they will only remember it for some wiseass claiming he's smarter than a kid. That's not how you sell sandwiches.

[TheConfessor]

I agree that the logic of the commercial is kind of hard to follow, not just the first half with Ros(s)ner, but also the second half, where they compare a small gospel choir to a larger gospel choir that's twice as big. In both cases, the only point they're trying to illustrate is the concept of a 2 to 1 preference. To be fair, I never thought the Allstate commercial with Ken Jennings and Dennis Haysbert made much sense either.

I discussed this commercial briefly with a friend over the weekend. He said the scene with Ros(s)ner and the kid who has a tantrum is actually a parody of a similar movie scene. I forget which movie he said. Was there something like that in "A Beautiful Mind"?

[frogman042]

I agree that the logic of the commercial is kind of hard to follow, not just the first half with Ros(s)ner, but also the second half, where they compare a small gospel choir to a larger gospel choir that's twice as big. In both cases, the only point they're trying to illustrate is the concept of a 2 to 1 preference. To be fair, I never thought the Allstate commercial with Ken Jennings and Dennis Haysbert made much sense either.

I discussed this commercial briefly with a friend over the weekend. He said the scene with Ros(s)ner and the kid who has a tantrum is actually a parody of a similar movie scene. I forget which movie he said. Was there something like that in "A Beautiful Mind"?

The movie scene that came to mind when I saw the clip was the Chicken Salad/Toast scene at the diner in Five Easy Pieces. All it needs is the kid saying you can hold the Domino's sub.... between your knees.

---Jay

[silverscreenselect]

I discussed this commercial briefly with a friend over the weekend. He said the scene with Ros(s)ner and the kid who has a tantrum is actually a parody of a similar movie scene. I forget which movie he said. Was there something like that in "A Beautiful Mind"?

If it is a film parody, it's obscure, and a commercial can't afford to be obscure, especially one as potentially offensive as this one.

SSS showing off his marketing expertise from the new marketing book he's co-written.

[Bob Juch]

FYI, here's the commercial. It must not be very effective, if no one here can remember whether it's for Domino's or Subway. I don't know why they misspelled Rick's name.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlEEUTTesHM

What struck me about the commercial was that it compares Rick's IQ of 200 to an "Average 5th Grader's" - now doesn't the Avg. I.Q. have to be 100 for any broad group of people of the same age, by definition? I was wondering why they specifically picked 5th graders unless they are trying to help Rick get a spot on a certain show that still amazes some folks that other folks still watch it?

---Jay

Actually I read a couple of weeks ago that the average IQ is now 130. They say that's due to familiarity with the tests.

Based on those I encounter in "customer service" though, it's 70.