Here’s another case of an advertiser being paid what must have been untold thousands of dollars to try to evoke a particular feeling and just getting it horribly, horribly backwards (QuickTime format).

This is, in my opinion, a terribly depressing, ultimately self-defeating piece of video. It’s pretty obvious what the ad agency was trying for: a little nostalgia, just a tiny hint of bittersweet memory, evocative of home and hearth, family and friends, allathatgoodshit. Problem is that, in the pursuit of this particular flavor of ambiance, they misguidedly jacked up the contrast between the sepia-tinted memories of better times and the bleak reality of the actor’s present circumstances way, waaay too much, practically vaulting the gap separating misty-eyed remembrance and crushing, suicidal malaise.

Before the lonely single man consuming his solitary meal in his desolate apartment has even finished that first intoxicating bite of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing, the distant echoes of the past that sustain him have already bled away, leaving him once again alone, miles from home and bereft of human contact and comfort. It’s just him, his crushed spirits, and his bowl of salad.

You fully expect him to conclude his meal and the commercial by collapsing into wretched, anguished sobs, pulling out his recently deceased father’s antique over-under (the only legacy left his son after a protracted battle with colon cancer or something similarly depressing, I imagine) and going all Kurt Cobain on himself.

No amount of schmaltzy six-string accompaniment will save this ad. Hidden Valley, you might want to consider hiring another agency for your next TV campaign. Try for someone a little more upbeat next time….I wonder what Trent Reznor’s doing with himself these days?