Nike doesn’t often totally blow a commercial, but the LeBron What Should I Do? commercial is just one sour note after another. A meatball for Cleveland to knock out of the park. (via kottke)

This ad by Dell goes after the Apple tax.

Great Nike commercial not made by Nike. Seeing Tiger in there is a little distracting, looks like this was made a bit before the meltdown:

(via ross)

Old Spice wins the award for best Super Bowl commercial this year, The Man Your Man Could Smell Like:

Love this powerful seatbelt commercial from the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership. (thx alec)

Fascinating examination of some Victoria’s Secret photoshopping. This follow-up comment provides even more information.

I can’t remember how this came up recently, but Terry Tate Office Linebacker is still the best series of sneaker commercials not made by Nike.

Fantastic Nike commercial featuring a Kobe Bryant puppet heckling a LeBron James puppet over his three championship rings. (via kottke)

Inferior to—but still reminiscent of—the darkly fantastic Chocolate Bunny by Lernert Engelberts & Sander Plug is this Cadbury video featuring much egg devastation. Check related videos for more eggsterminations (I like the one with the piano wire).

Radiohead donated one of their tracks, “Videotape”, for use in a commercial by Leo Burnett designed to raise awareness of the fragile UK housing situation. Samantha Morton, who was homeless for a time before becoming famous, does the voiceover (also donated).

According to Lürzer, this is the first-ever commercial Radiohead has allowed their music to be used for, but a quick search turned up this Steve Nash/Jason Kidd commercial for the NBA (there are a bunch of those There Can Only Be One spots; I like the Shaq/Kobe one). Maybe this is the first one they’ve donated rather than sold. Doesn’t matter, great commercial.

This Midas spot cracked me up.

• A little pick-me-up to watch before your next workout: Nike Courage. I can't link to the high-quality version directly, so don't forget to click the "watch in high quality" link by the lower-right corner of the video.
• Interesting summary of the health benefits of eating coconut. Caught my eye because it was only a couple days ago I saw this post lauding coconut water as "nature's perfect sports drink".

I've been wondering this for awhile: why do the websites of so many eBook and DVD programs look so similar? Most...

• ... are really LONG pages, with lots of scrolling to reach the bottom.
• ... are one centered column, with wide margins.
• ... use the Arial font, with big headers.
• ... highlight key phrases in yellow.
• ... are signed by the program's creator, often including a scan of his signature.
• ... are peppered with testimonials.

Here are the examples:

• Complete Speed Training, Latif Thomas and Patrick Beith
• Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle, Tom Venuto
• The Vertical Jump Development Bible, Kelly Baggett
• Muscle Gaining Secrets, Jason Ferruggia
• Precision Nutrition, John M. Berardi
• Ultimate Insider Speed Training Secrets, Tim Kauppinen
• Matt Furey

It's odd. I wonder if they all use the same storefront software, and whatever templates it provides, or if they all read the same book on selling stuff on the Internet. Or perhaps they read the very interesting article, The Surprising Truth About Ugly Websites. Not that all these sites are ugly, but all have at least one or two elements that fly in the face of traditional web design, and a few have a bunch.

I'm not making any value judgments about the programs themselves, as I haven't bought any of them, but I will say I've heard great things about several of them. I've read several articles online by Thomas, Beith, and Baggett, and they all make good sense based on what I know (Google those guys - good stuff). Venuto is well-respected, Berardi is revered (I've heard nothing but great things about his program), and I really enjoy Ferruggia's weblog. I have no point, I'm just curious how they all came to use the same marketing style.

P.S. I don't know anything about Kauppinen. I've read and enjoyed a few articles by Furey, but his product list and prices give me significant pause.

For your viewing pleasure: 20 Nike commercials, plus one.