Treasure Island

Friday, June 27, 2003

Let me start off by saying that I am, in general, a vehement proponent of sex and violence in the media. I have been known to publicly lament the decline in blood, gore, and breasts in horror films and will generally give my business to anything that is blatantly and resolutely immoral. Anything I can do to combat the ongoing family friendlification of America is worthwhile.

That having been said, even I was floored by the new ad campaign for the Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas. For those of you who haven't seen this (I have no idea if Vegas casinos run TV ads outside of Los Angeles), allow me to summarize.

Scene 1: A handsome male plays cards while a toothy brunette clings to him.

Handsome Man: Am I a player tonight? Definitely.

Woman smiles.

All right, so far so good. Come to our casino, play cards, and women will fall all over you. I'm with you so far.

Scene 2: Two women stand at the bar being chatted up by a guy. Conversation ends and guy disappears. The blonde turns to the brunette, bites her lip, and sensually runs her finger around the rim of her wine glass.

Blonde: Sure, I've got rules. I left 'em at home.

Whoa! Come to Vegas and fool around with members of the same sex! That's new. Did the MGM/Mirage execs sit around and say "You know, the bi-curious female market is huge. We should tap into that."? Maybe they know something I don't.

Or maybe this is supposed to be saying "Hey guys, come to Vegas and maybe you'll be able to watch some hot girl-on-girl action." That certainly seems like a much larger demographic to be tapping into with your ads. And yet, the guy who was talking to the two girls disappears pretty quickly, so the message seems to be "Hey guys, come to Vegas and get snubbed by women who are bored with heterosexuality." Not a great selling point.

Maybe I'm overthinking this. This is a very short spot, so I guess the idea is just to get everyone all worked up what with the lip biting and glass fondling and such. And, if you're curious, it ends with lots of cannons firing. Just in case the ad wasn't sexual enough.

If you're curious (or just want to see some implied girl-on-girl action) can view the movie here.

Rating: B (Muddled message, but implied girl-on-girl action has to be worth a few points)

Reviewed by Padgett Arango
Contents
The Hills Have Eyes 2

Hostel Part II

Six Degrees

Shark

Jericho

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

Justice

The Hills Have Eyes

Love Monkey

Out of Practice

Head Cases

Crunchwrap Supreme

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

Batman Begins

Garden State

Hero

13 Going On 30

LAX

Starman

quirkyalone.net

Kill Bill, Vol. 2

Line of Fire

We Shall All Be Healed

Happy Family

Arrested Development

Love Actually

A Minute with Stan Hooper

Tarzan

Karen Sisco

Stop All the World Now

Cold Case

Skin

10-8

Joan of Arcadia

Eve

Luis

Lost In Translation

House of 1000 Corpses

Bubba Ho-Tep

Darkness Falls

Pirates of the Caribbean

The Amazing Race

Treasure Island

FearDotCom

Adaptation

To Hit Armor Class Zero

Without A Trace

8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter

Life With Bonnie

JalapeƱo Cheeseburger

The Mothman Prophecies

Happy Campers

The Man Who Wasn't There

Kiss of the Dragon

Josie & the Pussycats

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Dr. Pepper

Know By Heart

Waking Life

L.I.E.

Thirteen Ghosts

Earthlink presents Chang and Eng

New York and Country Bar

Change

Motivation and Water Tower Grammar

Crossing Philly

Makeout Club

Undeclared

The Gap

The Abolition of Work

3000 Miles to Graceland

Kolobos

Duets

The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Diesel Sweeties

The Cold Six Thousand

The Grilled Stuft Burrito (Rebuttal)

60 Second Wipeout

The Patriot

Grilled Stuft Burrito

Cowgirls

Crystalline

Frankenfinger E.P.

One Force Down

Shake

Both Our Secrets

Happy Birthday Captain Columbus!

Fight Club

Whatever It Takes

Committed

That Skinny Motherfucker with the High Voice?

Joe Dirt

The Veggie Whopper

Taco Bell Nachos

Palmetto

Godzilla vs. Monster Zero

The Terror of Mechagodzilla

To The Center

Infiniti+Infiniti

American Psycho

The Del Shredder

What Lies Beneath

The Cheesy Gordita Crunch

Bring It On

Chill Factor

Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars

Bad Company

The Blair Witch Project

Hyacinths and Thistles

Lake of Dracula

We'll Have a Time

Home Depot

Snow Day

The Virgin Suicides