Errol Morris tweeted that this is the best commercial ever made (or, at least that he has viewed). I have to agree that it is quite strong (quite, to quite quite strong). The camera angles, lenses used, editing, and use of sound are all very interesting, intelligent, and provocative. It's almost unbelievable, but I did google the company and found it here.
Putting the technique aside (and the fact that there is just something quintessentially "American" about the commercial), obviously the brutal honesty of the voice over is what catapults this ad ahead of so many others. "My wife's boyfriend broke my jaw with a fence post, so if you don't buy a trailer from me, it ain't gonna hurt my feelings." It's intriguing to me to have such honesty, because it's just not what we expect as television viewers. We tend to save that kind of visceral moment for our own lives, and may only expect it from our favorite primetime drama. In the latter case, though, it's always removed from reality, behind the fourth wall and safe from our reach. And those moments of honesty are either built up through a dramatic climax, or set aside for a pensive and introspective moment between the players. We don't expect them from a real-life hardened, used trailer salesman in rural Alabama. And we don't expect them so quickly. It's almost uncomfortable, the amount of trust he must have in us to tell us such personal things.
It's also interesting to me that despite all the honesty, they're ok to poke some fun at the art (running/skipping along at the end). Plus, the cougar sound bytes are quite funny.
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