BLACK & WHITE AND RED ALL OVER

You know how much we love local commercials. These low-budget, self-produced gems are sweet relief from the glossy, Hollywood-slick national ad campaigns orchestrated by Madison Avenue to break up our TV shows and seep into our brains with multi-million dollar production values and catchy jingles. These local commercials have none of that. They're far from stylish. They won't make you feel smarter, sexier, or more confident. They won't make your mouth minty fresh. They don't come out of think tanks or test groups or research committees or massive sound stages. They don't use sophisticated subliminal messages or demographics or affable actors or clever ironies to stick in your mind. Nope, they just show you the damn product. They don't allow you to forget you're getting hustled, first and foremost, for your consumer dollars, and there is a certain integrity to that. It's honest. Take the Red House Furniture Store. They don't sell lifestyles, they sell furniture. It's simple. They sell it to black people or white people. They sell it to anyone. End of story.