With so many television commercials aired each day, it is far too easy to get lost in the mix. That’s why you want your television ad campaign to be unique and memorable, in addition to have a strong message that will induce potential customers to inquire further about your products and to make that all important purchase. However, there are so many commercials that really make very little sense.

You may have seen the relatively recent ad campaign promoting Coke Zero (you can watch one of them on YouTube) featuring a series of talking body parts. The blind tongues are tasting the Coke Zero, unaware that they are drinking anything other than the original Coca-Cola formula. To them, it tastes identical. The eye, without the ability to taste the product, informs the tongues that they are not drinking the original Coke. Finally, the brain shows up to tell them to shut up.

I have two main questions about this ad campaign that I would like to see clarified, since they don’t seem to make any intuitive or logical sense whatsoever. First, the eye and the tongue are both depicted with leg-like appendages, allowing them to “walk” around on the set. Why, then, is the brain not provided with a similar walk-enabling appendage? It has two arm-like extensions, but it moves around on what appears to be a wheelchair. Is there a hidden message to this depiction?

Second, the eye speaks with what sounds like a French accent. Coca-Cola Bottling Company is an American company and, as far as we can tell, the tongues and the brains speak with typical American accents. The possibly pretentious eye, however, has a foreign accent. Are we being led to believe that sight is a foreign sense in some ways? One that should be ignored?

While I think that Coke has done a good job in creating a memorable ad campaign (albeit one that is mildly disturbing in appearance), there are some inexplicable details that don’t make any sense. Does this hurt their effectiveness? What do you think? How do you explain the “French” eye character?