Thursday, March 7, 2013

Travelocity Top Secret Hotels Ad

In this silly spot for Travelocity, our roaming gnome Travelocity mascot sits in a tank of Piranhas, and the announcer says: “This is what it’s like paying full price for a hotel.” Oh, so we’ll be able to swim with piranhas without being eaten if we pay full price for a hotel? They’ll think we’re made of wood, or plaster, or resin, or whatever the roaming gnome is made of? Wow, maybe the people who live along the Amazon River should pay full price for their hotels; that way, they will be immune from piranha attacks if they fall into piranha-infested waters.

But then we get to see what it’s like to get 45% off published prices with Travelocity’s Top Secret Hotels. And wouldn’t you know it, but the roaming gnome is soaking in a big luxurious bathtub with mounds of bubble bath bubbles piled on top of it. Oh, and there’s also some woman playing the harp next to the tub. (Are they sure wives won’t mind when their husbands go on business trips with women in their bathrooms? Hmm, maybe they should reconsider this. Unless they own a divorce law firm at Travelocity.) But how do we know there aren’t just as many piranhas underneath the bubble bath bubbles? We can’t see the water, so are they trying to hide the piranhas from us so they can trick us into using their Top Secret Hotels deals, and then they can feed us to their piranhas? I mean, is that why they are “Top Secret Hotels”: so that nobody will ever know where you stayed, and no-one can ever find out what happened to you when the piranhas eat you? (I knew it!)

Here’s the secret carnivorous fish bathtub spot: