Damn those marketing and media manipulators of emotion - oh wait, I'm one of em.

Tonight I biked up to Playa to have dinner at the Shack. (the Shackburger is a heart attack on a bun. yum!) At some point the Budweiser Christmas commercial came on - and for reasons I cant explain, the hair on the back of my neck stood up and my eyes got a little watery. I don't think I was even watching it, just heard it. For some reason it reminded me of childhood and of home. Why? No Idea! No one in my house ever drank beer growing up... But something about it reminded me of being home growing up during the holidays. I just think its fascinating how music and images can become ingrained in your memory - even twisted within it. I came home and found a copy of the commercial online that you can see here:

Bud Christmas commercial

Apparently this commercial was made in 1986, but I swear there was one just like it when I was a kid.

In those online searches, I also ran across one of my favorite commercials. Also by Budweiser, its called "Respect". It only aired in January of '02. It was their homage to 9/11 and I thought it was a classy way to tap emotion without being cheesy or tackily patriotic. (remember this was when we had all come together before George split the country in two). Some people hated it, but it still gets to me. You can watch it here:

Respect

I turned on the tv to find America's Funniest Videos on. I know, bad tv. But my sister Mel just laughs and laughs (and Dad always chuckles despite himself) when we watch this together. So much so that it just makes me feel good to watch it and chuckle thinking how she'd be reacting. It's one of my favorite accidental holiday traditions when we're all home together.

That of course was followed by "Extreme Makeover Home Edition". I hadn't ever watched this til a few weeks ago when my friend Casey made me. Holy crap do they know how to jerk the tears out of you. Yeah its obvious and we know it when we watch, but boy they wrap you so into that you just don't care - even to the point of forgiving all the blatant plugs for the products and the network.

You'd think being part of the forces that do this stuff would make me immune to letting myself get caught up in it. Instead, maybe I'm just that much more susceptible when someone does it well? Or...maybe I'm just a sap.

So I turned the tv off and went to get my Christmas Tree....