We open on the output of a photocopier, first seeing it spit out a pie chart of annual expenditures and then something quite non-business and relaxing–a color photo of a beautiful mountainscape.
Two employees in the copier room chat about the pic, a scenario that seems rather mundane until you factor in that they are both reptile-like aliens from outer space. Heightening the humor is that their appearance is treated as nothing out of the ordinary as the two carry on a matter-of-fact conversation, with the female alien explaining that the photo is from a mountain retreat in New Mexico that her significant other took her to last week.
The male alien then asks, “Didn’t you call in sick last week?”
The woman alien retorts, “Do you really need to go there?” She advises her fellow employee to get a life.
He somewhat sheepishly yet sarcastically answers that maybe he will.
A tagline links in the extraterrestrial angle, billing New Mexico as “the best place in the universe.”
“Personal Day” is one of two offbeat spots in the campaign directed by Matt Aselton of bicoastal Epoch Films for M&C Saatchi, Los Angeles.
Jerry Solomon executive produced for Epoch, with John Duffin serving as producer. The DP was Tami Reiker.
The M&C Saatchi ensemble consisted of creative director Martin Dix, copywriter Craig Ghiglione, art director Jay Gundzik and producer Wendi Weger.
Visual effects house was Ring of Fire, Santa Monica. Editor was Adam Parker of Chrome, Santa Monica.
Supreme Court Seems Likely To Uphold A Law That Could Force TikTok To Shut Down On Jan. 19
The Supreme Court on Friday seemed likely to uphold a law that would ban TikTok in the United States beginning Jan. 19 unless the popular social media program is sold by its China-based parent company.
Hearing arguments in a momentous clash of free speech and national security concerns, the justices seemed persuaded by arguments that the national security threat posed by the company's connections to China override concerns about restricting the speech either of TikTok or its 170 million users in the United States.
Early in arguments that lasted more than two and a half hours, Chief Justice John Roberts identified his main concern: TikTok's ownership by China-based ByteDance and the parent company's requirement to cooperate with the Chinese government's intelligence operations.
If left in place, the law passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in April will require TikTok to "go dark" on Jan. 19, lawyer Noel Francisco told the justices on behalf of TikTok.
At the very least, Francisco urged, the justices should enter a temporary pause that would allow TikTok to keep operating. "We might be in a different world again" after President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Trump, who has 14.7 million followers on TikTok, also has called for the deadline to be pushed back to give him time to negotiate a "political resolution." Francisco served as Trump's solicitor general in his first presidential term.
But it was not clear whether any justices would choose such a course. And only Justice Neil Gorsuch sounded like he would side with TikTok to find that the ban violates the Constitution.
Gorsuch labeled arguments advanced by the Biden administration' in defense of the law a... Read More