Welch's Commercial: Talking Grapes

Children of the Concords  

The average American watches more than five hours of live television every day. Somewhere in that television viewing, there are several commercials. Commercials have a way of either enticing us with their goods or just numb our brains. I know when and if I watch a channel dependent on an onslaught of commercials, it is my time to either start or finish working on a meal for me or the dogs, take a bathroom break, or get caught up on a home or work project. I am mostly a movie person when it comes time to turning on the TV, so I do try to keep the commercials limited. 

In the mean time, I think producers and writers of commercials really need to do their homework about what they are trying to sell. Sure - possibly about 2% of the viewing public may see flaws in what the commercials are spewing. The example of one I just caught recently was a commercial about grape juice. 

First of all, Welch's grape products are trying to sell some juice. In their new advertising campaign, "Just Hangin,'" they are promoting heart healthy juice featuring a bunch (literally) of talking grapes. No problem there. Welch's has been stomping grapes since 1869. In fact, back in the 1960-70's in the Walla Walla Valley, we grew Concord grapes that were contracted with Welch's.  This age old juice company is also trying to cash in on the heart health benefits of their grape juice by making comparisons with red wine as per the Mayo Clinic. 

Absolutely, if I was a part of their advertising team, I would do the same comparisons. But really - - when you have a bunch of grapes having a conversation, like a bunch of Concord grapes talking to a bunch of Merlot grapes, you really should use an authentic bunch of Merlot grapes and not a bunch of Thompson Seedless Red grapes. In fact, I am not even sure if the so-called "Merlot" are even real grapes.  The pedicels (stalk) looked a little plastic, to me. Shame on you Welch's. You thought you could get that past a bunch of wine geeks? 

Oh well, at least these talking grapes are an improvement from those commercials that use to feature those obnoxious and coquettish "Children of the Corn" or in Welch's case, "Children of the Concords."