When Is a Noun Not a Noun?

Questions I ask myself while looking at advertisements:

1. Is “happy” the new “happiness”?

 

“Where there’s happy, it has to be Heinz.” (From a Target.com ad.) The slogan also appeared at the end of Heinz’s Super Bowl spot, which featured a humming chorus of “When You’re Happy and You Know It.”

 

2. Where there’s happy, is it spreadable?

 (Watch the Nutella Spread the Happy commercial, which stubbornly refuses to embed.) 

“There’s a whole lot of happy in every jar of Nutella.” I learned about this one from, of all things, a clue in the New York Times daily crossword puzzle. (More about the song in the commercial here.)

 

3. Where there’s happy, is there also better?

“Where Better Happens” newspaper ad for Sears. (Hat tip: Ben Yagoda.) Judging from the windows at my local Sears, this is the place where sadder happens. Things have not improved since I posted that photo four years ago.

 

4. Is better the best you’ve got?

Image via Beauty World News. Watch the Olay Your Best Beautiful commercial, another non-embedder.

“Olay is devoted to making every woman her best beautiful.” (Another tip of the hat to Ben Yagoda!)

__

For more in this vein, see my previous posts:

Smart, Loud, Happy, More (Farmer’s Insurance, New York Times, Carvel, Fiat) (August 7, 2013).

The Whole True and Nothing But the True (Fleishman- Hillard’s slogan, “The Power of True”) (April 30, 2013)

Now with Even More Good! (Chobani yogurt, Naked Juice, and Blue Diamond Almonds) (February 26, 2013)

Let’s Noun! (November 27, 2012)

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Anthimeria (“Full of Wow” and other ice-cream slogans) (July 12, 2011)

Good to Go (Charmin’s “Enjoy the Go” campaign) (November 11, 2010)

Comments

[Jessica]

It all comes down to Arrested Development: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/taste-the-happy