Ad Nauseum: It's Not Complicated vs. The Simple Choice

For this edition of Ad Nauseum, we’re going to stick with dueling cell phone providers. Cell phone commercials are so rampant these days that it can be tough to produce one that doesn’t induce viewer-vomiting and shoe-throwing, much less one that you actually end up remembering.

But when AT&T’s series of “It’s Not Complicated” ads started running several months ago, they were smart enough to realize that they had a good thing going very early on, and they have continued to churn out a new 30 second version of this spot every couple of weeks or so. The kids say the darnedest things aspect is golden, but it’s the ad-libbing of the straight-faced adult that makes the commercials work…even when the kids are swapped out for a quartet of NBA legends.

Not to be outdone, T-Mobile basically copycatted the general premise of the AT&T commercials’ catchphrase…if “The Simple Choice” isn’t a synonym for “It’s Not Complicated,” I don’t know what is. Still, there’s something humorous about Frankenstein’s monster getting offended at the scientist’s extremely condescending and patronizing tone. One can only hope that the monster dismembered him later offscreen…or smacked him around a little bit at the very least.