Watching American Idol has been a family activity around my home for years. Each week, my son Ben and I would sit on the couch to watch (and sing along with) the weekly competition, and he often told me “Mom, YOU should try out for American Idol!” We watched pretty much every season -- including all the sponsored Ford music videos and commercials -- and always voted for our favorites.

Yep, I sure do! Ever get so busy you don't know what day of the week it is? Yep, I sure do! So here's the weekly American Idol post that was supposed to go up on Thursday, but didn't actually get onto AskPatty until today. Mea Culpa!

As part of each episode, the final American Idol finalists are competing in weekly  ‘Missions’ to complete some sort of fun competition that emphasizes their own personalities – so, things like singing, philanthropy, fashion, etc. This week's American Idol mission, "Music Design Mashup" divided the four finalists into two teams and gave each pair carte blanche to custom design their own 2014 Ford Fiesta.

Toyota has produced a series of videos that will ring true to anyone who, like me, played the ever-popular Game of Life growing up.  With humor and dry wit, they compare "real" adult life to the version played out in the board game - and of course, they bring it back to having the right "piece" to play the game. Now, for the uninitiated, in the Game of Life all the player tokens are cars, and they hold not only you but also your little plastic pretend family as you work to make your fortune (or just avoid bankruptcy).  The token Toyota recommends for the full-size game?  None other than the Prius c.  It's their hybrid / electric model and it's turning a lot of heads.

The series of videos has a lot of great information on car buying, they're very helpful if you've never bought a car, or even if you have and are considering shopping again.  I'll give you the first video here, but to see the whole series (and I recommend you do so) go to http://www.youtube.com/priusc.  The first video's past the jump.  Hit it!

So last week I showed you this Kia teaser featuring Adriana Lima waving a flag and expressed my fears that it was going to be one of "those" car commercials, while holding out hope that Kia would surprise me with a twist.  Well, there was a twist, but did it make for a good commercial?    Here's the complete ad, which does indeed star Adriana Lima, as well as Motley Crue, and a duo of lumberjacks chopping a very large sandwich.  Let's take a look.

So - is it a commercial about a scantily clad lady selling a car?  Not exactly - Adriana Lima is only in the ad for a second or so - but it is a commercial that plays to gender stereotypes.  The wife dreams of being whisked away in a scene from a romance novel, while the husband, overdosed on sleep-sand, has the most stereotypically masculine dream imaginable.  But still, it's all presented with a bit of whimsy, and in the end he does steal his wife away from Harlequin-Romance-Man.  I'm not a fan of gender stereotypes, but in the end, thanks to its tone and the pure hyperbole of the situation, the ad did make me laugh, and I approved.  I was prepared to say "Well played, Kia," in my post today.

And then I went to Kia's official Youtube channel to find the ad.  

And I saw this.

That's right, that's an official Kia Motors post.  Five full hours of Adriana Lima waving a checkered flag, as in the original teaser, in HD.  This undoes any approval I may have had for the original ad, because this is tantamount to Kia saying "Yeah, we made a clever commercial that had some fun with gender stereotypes, but online we'll go all-the-way sexist."  This is especially bothersome to me because not only does it go back to the cro-magnon days of bikini babes in car ads, but it also reinforces the skewed notion that internet users are predominantly male.  If you think this notion doesn't exist, see recent media stories about new social bookmarking site Pinterest - apparently it's appalling that most of Pinterest's users are female.  But - I digress.

Kia, I own one of your cars.  And I really like it.  And I really don't want to have to stop liking you.  I'm not saying put together an ad with a hunky guy waving a flag - one gender stereotype is as bad as the next - but really, were the hamsters so bad?   

Have a lovely weekend, Ask Patty Nation.

Kaeli Gardner AskPatty.com

Welcome back to the working week, Ask Patty Nation.  Hopefully you're all not too worse for wear after the Super Bowl weekend.  Whether you're in recovery from the weekend or just have a standard case of the Mondays, some Super Bowl commercials may just do the trick to cheer you up this morning. 

Viral Video Chart has the stats on the most shared Super Bowl ads online, and there are some familiar faces on the list.  VW's Bark Side and Dog Strikes Back are at number 1 and 3, respectively, with 706,564 shares and 149,290 shares.  Not too shabby!  Audi's Vampire Party also showed well, coming in at number 5 with 70 thousand shares, and many other car ads we featured here are on the list as well.  Some car ads that didn't get covered last week (I can't be everywhere, after all) also have been enjoying quite a healthy online life, particular the number 2 video, a wonderful Honda CR-V ad starring Matthew Broderick in a situation that will be very familiar to anyone who has seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  If you haven't seen it, you HAVE to check it out below, then head over to Viral Video Chart and check out the other ads you may have missed - or give a few another look.  It's guaranteed to brighten your Monday blues.

Check out the other ads here:
http://viralvideochart.unrulymedia.com/chart_keyword/Superbowl_2012?items=100&interval=all_time

Have a great week, Ask Patty Nation!

Kaeli Gardner AskPatty.com

Happy Friday, Ask Patty Nation!  Today we conclude our week of Super Bowl ads and teasers with a whole slew of videos.  Many many companies are releasing their full Super Bowl ads early, and some of them are in this batch, so be fairly warned if you'd rather see them "fresh" during the game.  I was going to make it a dog video trifecta, but the "Confident You" spot from Cars.com was too entertaining to skip.  After that, we'll see a pair of spots by Subaru from their "Dog Tested and Approved" campaign, and finally - the full ad teased by the VW "Bark Side" video featured here last week is actually two ads in one, includes a look at the new new Beetle ... and it's hilarious.  

Enjoy, and have a great Super Bowl weekend!

Kaeli Gardner AskPatty.com

Wow, it's Thursday already.  The week is just flying by.  Today's Super Bowl ad teaser is - actually not a teaser, I think, because it certainly seems like the complete ad.  So if you want to see it for the first time on Sunday during the game, you are fairly warned to turn back now. 

Still here?  Good.  So this is an Audi ad.  Last year's "Goodnight Moon" inspired ad was all well and good (and has been running again on TV this week, in anticipation of the launch of this new one, I'm sure), but this ad takes the cake.  It features vampires at a party in the woods - and not the Twilight kind.    Now, with apologies to the Twi-hards and Twi-hard moms out there, because when I was younger my vampires were the sexy undead played by Keifer Sutherland, listening to new wave music and partying until dawn, so this scene warms my teenage gothic heart, particularly the use of "The Killing Moon" by Echo and the Bunnymen as the spot's soundtrack.  It took me back!

Anyway - one of the vamps' undead buddies arrives at the party with the vampy equivalent of a case of beer - a clever nod to the Super Bowl ads of yesteryear - and, well... hilarity ensues.  Just watch the ad.

Stay tuned tomorrow for one final ad teaser before game weekend, and have a great day in the Ask Patty Nation!

Kaeli Gardner AskPatty.com

As the Ask Patty coverage of Super Bowl ad teasers continues, today we take a look at the new teaser (in every sense of the word) from Kia.  Now - as a disclaimer, Kia's ads of late have been some of the most memorable and well done ones.  I've featured their now famous hamsters on the blog before, and applauded them for making memorable commercials that appeal to females and males alike, and resisted the urge to be provocative and sexist (see Fiat's J-LO ad for reference).

Now, Kia, I'm going to have to call this one like I see it - I'm afraid I'm not going to like your Super Bowl ad.  I still hold out hope that you'll surprise me, you seem to be a female conscious brand, but this teaser doesn't exactly instill me with faith.  See for yourself:

Short and sweet, I know.  Adriana Lima (who is apparently a supermodel of some sort?  I'm not up on my model-ology), clad in a tight and quite revealing... garment of some sort, her hair blowing in the wind, waves a checkered flag for a few seconds over the tune of "Mr. Sandman" and then, "See you on sunday," and that's that.  

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  The days of objectifying scantily clad women and using them to sell cars should be over by now.  Haven't we all gotten past that?  Are consumers still so gullible?  Add to that the fact that women are the majority car buyer in North America today and the fact that ads like this are even considered is beyond my understanding.

Now - again, I hold out hope that Kia will turn this around and spin it in a memorable and non-sexist way.  I really do.  I like Kia as a brand and as a company - I drive a Kia, and I love it.  Hopefully this is just the cliche'd setup to a joke, and I'll be able to say "Phew!  Well played, Kia.  Well played," on Monday.  Time will tell!

Stay tuned for more Super Bowl teasers all week long on the Ask Patty blog.

Kaeli Gardner AskPatty.com

As our week of featuring Super Bowl teasers continues, today we take a look at Chevrolet's offering, which is not one teaser but a generous three videos, which is not entirely surprising because they are the major sponsor this year.  

The first two ad teasers are actually full ads, they're entries from Chevy's "Route 66" ad contest.  Now, I'm not sure if either fits the contest's announced theme of road trips, but they are funny, and Chevy liked them enough to publish them, so I'm going to share them too.  Here they are:

The third ad, which actually is a teaser, is about Chevy's Game Time app and the companion contest.  During the game, Chevy will give away 20 cars and thousands of other prizes with the Chevy Game Time app. You can download the app and play along during the Super Bowl: visit http://www.chevy.com/gametime.

Stay with us all week for more ad teasers!

Kaeli Gardner AskPatty.com

As our week of featuring Super Bowl teasers continues, today we take a look at Chevrolet's offering, which is not one teaser but a generous three videos, which is not entirely surprising because they are the major sponsor this year.  

The first two ad teasers are actually full ads, they're entries from Chevy's "Route 66" ad contest.  Now, I'm not sure if either fits the contest's announced theme of road trips, but they are funny, and Chevy liked them enough to publish them, so I'm going to share them too.  Here they are:

The third ad, which actually is a teaser, is about Chevy's Game Time app and the companion contest.  During the game, Chevy will give away 20 cars and thousands of other prizes with the Chevy Game Time app. You can download the app and play along during the Super Bowl: visit http://www.chevy.com/gametime.

Stay with us all week for more ad teasers!

Kaeli Gardner AskPatty.com