ADWEEK reports on the latest commercials for the Kings
and Sonics. The Kings' latest commercial "raises the roof,"
as it is "one part X-Files, two parts David Lynch, and three
parts harmony." The spot, titled "Dog," does not feature
any players. Aaron Allen, art director at Kings ad agency
Publicis & Hal Riney, S.F., said, "We didn't want to feature
any players because who knows if they'll be around next
year. It was fun to make a spot for the actual fans."
Meanwhile, a new Sonics ad via Wongdoody, Seattle, was shot
in a suburb and features two Sonics players shooting team T-
shirts out of a cannon from the back of a pickup truck. The
shirts "destroy a woman's rose garden, shatter house windows
and blow a crow out of the sky." The ad uses the tag, "The
Cannon Is Better in Key Arena" (ADWEEK, 12/18 issue).
HAS HE HAD HIS PHIL? In N.Y., Phil Mushnick writes that
one of ESPN's new "This is SportsCenter" ads via Wieden &
Kennedy "portrays elderly men in a negatively stereotyped
fashion, presenting them as feeble-minded, infirm, socially
detached fools given to wearing clownish clothing. What's
supposed to strike ESPN's target audience -- young,
desensitized males -- as funny, is actually a cheap, cruel
joke" (N.Y. POST, 12/22).
