New Alltel commercial: is it in bad taste?

Lord Gonchar said:

robotfactory said:
Bad taste would be if the family got kicked in the head and the Alltel guy looted their bodies.

It'd also make a much more entertaining commercial. :)

Only the father. It's funny when adult males are maimed in the name of selling a product. Women, children, and other species would garner a huge outcry and a protest of some kind.

Somewhere down the line there will be a lawsuit filed by some family because their kid was imitating the family on the Alltel commercial and got whacked by a coaster.

Mamoosh said:
They're sitting between the overbank and the cobra roll. Trains are way too high to touch. The grass was added for the commercial. Normally that's a walkway.

So it's not even in a low zone, which makes it even more silly to talk about, eh?

OK, Lets settle this.

If anyone has a pic of that particular spot by the coaster, please post it. :)

But it doesn't matter.

The commercial doesn't imply anything other than a family searching a grassy area under a ride collecting things that fall from riders. It's a lame attempt at humor.

In fact, if you want to get extra picky, there's no barrier between the midway and the grassy area, yet one is show in the background between the people and the coaster - further implying for those reading WAY too far into it that everything is hunky dory.

I'm just curious what this area actually looks like since we have people saying different things.

It's all good.

Personally I feel Verizon's coverage is much better than Alltel's and having the "my circle" isnt enough to switch.

- Mr. Point Misser

Too bad that they are the same company now ;)

Regardless of whether or not that area is a low zone in real life, they're not in a low zone in the commercial - the first shot of them clearly shows that there is no fence separating the grass that they're sitting on from the midway.

I think Chitown had a point in the original post in the sense that I'm a little (a little, little) surprised the commercial got through the whole commercial-making process because it's perfectly sensible that sometimes people can make connections that may or may not be there and something otherwise off the cuff may come off as insensitive, or just not right in some way or another.

I think it would be one thing if this were airing a week after the kid at SFOG got hit but I don't think that whole thing is really, you know, on the cusp of the public's immediate memory at this point.

Jeff said:
All irrelevant, Dave. Joe TV watcher wouldn't know any of that.

Haven't you learned from last election Jeff.. His name isnt Joe and he isnt really a TV watcher.. More like a radio listener ;)

If you didn't live in one of the markets where a low zone kill happened, and weren't a coaster dork, did you even hear about those accidents? I'm guessing no.

But wait, that doesn't matter, because the commercial still has no low zone context to it.

MagnumsRevenge said:

Too bad that they are the same company now ;)

Unfortunately their prices havent merged.. But touche'. Good comeback.

On that same front, I did notice the latest nerdy guys alltel commercial (trash truck) had the "verizon" guy suddenly missing.. Thought that was amusing.

Jeff said:
If you didn't live in one of the markets where a low zone kill happened, and weren't a coaster dork, did you even hear about those accidents? I'm guessing no.

Disagree there. The media jumps all over amusement park related accidents no matter where it happened. The SFOG accident made news throughout the country. Unfortunately, the media feeds on this stuff.

Chitown said:

If anyone has a pic of that particular spot by the coaster, please post it. :)

Here you go. Maybe not exactly what you're looking for, but the best one I could find. Good view of the area underneath the Cobra Roll.

Nice picture...except it does not show the location the commercial was filmed at. The elevated stagecoach way blocks the view of it.

I know it doesn't show everything, but part of the commerical took place below the Cobra Roll.

No, the family was gathering items from under the overbanked turn.

The overbanked turn leads into the Cobra Roll. It seems that we are arguing semantics.

I'm not arguing anything. If one was to stand under the cobra roll one would also not be standing under the overbanked turn. That's a fact.

Chitown said:

Disagree there. The media jumps all over amusement park related accidents no matter where it happened. The SFOG accident made news throughout the country. Unfortunately, the media feeds on this stuff.

True story. "The media" also supports communism, klilling babies, and raping young children.

There aren't enough palms or faces in the world to express my disdain for when people drag out "the media". It's really a broad generalization of a much bigger outlet than your talk show host would have you believe.

Well stated, Raven-Phile.

This commercial reminds me of when I was a Paddlewheel Excursions Captain at Cedar Point. One of our jobs was to keep people from jumping the fence under and near the tower of To Thrill Dragster. People were always looking for their cell phones, sunglasses, and other more random items. I really don't think that they were in any danger of getting hit by the ride, because the track was so far above them. They were, however, in danger of getting hit in the head with cell phones and sunglasses.

Thus, the commercial is, in my opinion, setting a bad safety example, because if the family in the commercial were in danger of getting hit with cell phones and sunglesses, they were probably in a ristricted area.

But I really like the commercial either way. I like all of their commercials, and I am an ATT guy.