In traditional pre-Super Bowl fashion, we've all got DeflateGate, Belichick's douchey-ness, Russell Wilson's boring generic nice-ness and, of course, commercials on the brain. To capitalize on this topic, I thought I'd have my own little face off between some notable local commercials we've all seen again...and again...and again. I don't think anyone would argue that the two most prolific local commercials spots in Tulsa belong to Hahn Appliance and Jim Glover Chevrolet.
Sure, we see these people every morning. We see their ever-changing hair cuts and their unfailing enthusiasm for fake holidays worthy enough to deem a door sale, but what do we really know about Lee Sherman, Gentry Johnson, and Jared and Kristen Glover? More importantly, if thrown into a gladiator's arena, which team would triump?
We'll break it down after the jump.
Round 1: The Relationship
Don't mistake this picture for the cover of the University of Phoenix pamphlet. This silly promo photo is of Jared and Kristen Glover, children of Jim Glover of Jim Glover Chevrolet. At this point, another writer in my position would probably knock them for being rich entitled brats living off their father's hard work, but I will do no such thing. By all accounts the Glovers have a good reputation around town, and who knows, the kids could be running the accounting department or mechanic shop or lunch cafe all by themselves. Plus, if your kids looked eerily similar to the quarterback and prom queen of Pleasantville, you'd plaster them all over your commercials too.
Lee and Gentry is where it gets a little weird. I (like pretty much everyone I've talked to) assumed that this was a father/daughter duo. But if you take ten seconds to think about it, you realize that she calls him "Lee" instead of "Dad," and they look about as similar as Kim Kardashian and Bruce Jenner. Mark that possibility off the list. The second and much creepier scenario that came to mind was that she was their prettiest female employee, so they recruited her to do their commercials. But then I realized that people typically don't let leggy brunettes work in appliance warehouses, so I threw that theory out also.
Of course, both possibilities I originally considered were wrong. Gentry Johnson is former pharmaceutical sales rep (shocking) that Hahn Appliance's marketing department found in a local casting call. Her commercials were so popular that it appears as though she's ditched the pharma-girl rolling bag for good and now does this and hosts some sort of McGraw TV spot full-time.
The Winner: I'm going to give this round to the Glovers. After all, anyone can hire a charismatic pretty girl to represent their company. Birthing two camera-ready personalities required a lot more forethought.
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Round 2: Content and Creativity
When it comes to the ingenuity of a local commercial, the bar isn't exactly set high. Door buster here, throw a football into the tire and receive 12 months financing at zero interest there. I'll show you a few recent commercials so you can get the idea:
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The Winner: I'll give this one to Hahn Appliance. By local standard relativity, the flash mob and Gentry speeding away in a fork lift are equivalent to Budweiser's puppy and Clydesdale BFFs or Britney Spears' Pepsi Generation spots.
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Round 3: How Convincing Are They?
The only thing sillier than believing Gentry knows anything about KitchenAid or Frigidaire appliances is assuming that Jared and Kristen drive Chevrolets. Bitch, please. I'll attempt to make a case for both.
I will say that when it comes to local car commercials, the Glovers are probably the least creepy ones happening in the Tulsa metro. The mirror-image twins in Honda of Bartlesville remind me way too much of that scene from The Shining, and all of those oily car salesmen talking about APR financing rates while that blow-up floppy cactus man waves in the background are equally as terrifying. No one around here is willing to shell out cash for Thunder player to inhale helium and sing their jingle, so it looks like Jared Glover being an ex-OSU football player is as good of an athletic endorsement is as close as we're going to get for a while.
However, it seems like Lee and Gentry's commercials are...a little more uh, self-aware or "meta" if you will. They're doing goofy commercials for washers and dryers, and they cheesy the hell out of it. Their most current commercial literally has twirling and leaping ballerinas in it! If I was forced to be on local TV, this is the only way I'd let it go down.
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The Winner: You moles can decide on this one:
Who would win in a fight: Lee and Gentry from Hahn Appliance, or the Glover siblings?
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Follow Chelsea on Twitter at @xCawoodstock
