Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

I always find it interesting when this happens.

Last summer Capital One Bank ran a big spfx spot featuring gigantic push pins which fall from the sky and impale various items on the earth (a cab, the sidewalk, a fire hydrant).

It's treated in a offhand manner, the people on the street don't seem to mind too much that school bus sized death spikes are hurtling from the heavens causing huge property damage and a threat to human life. A guy walking down the sidewalk even bumps his head on one while he's texting (so cute!) Actually, I do that sometimes too, and I don't even have huge skewers falling from outer space in my neighborhood.



The big, behemoth push pins tie in with the cute little push pins on the map to show the myriad locations of Capital One banks.


Cut to a year later, and the Governor's Highway Safety Office of Tennessee has released this spot.



"This summer if you're speeding, driving under the influence, or driving without a seatbelt, you're gonna get nailed."

Then big, giant nails fall from the sky, impaling the hoods of the offending vehicles and stopping them dead in their tracks. Get it? You're gonna get nailed.

There's not a lot of people in this ad, but from the way it's shot and the effects are handled, it's pretty clear that there are serious consequences for the drivers of these vehicles, especially when the window rolls down at the end and we meet the Tennessee State Trooper. This alone is plenty of incentive for me not to speed, drive under the influence, or not buckle up. I simply do not want to meet this guy.

If you haven't noticed, the basic premise in each of these spots is strikingly similar. Maybe the creatives on the "Nailed" spot saw the Capital One spot. It was hard to miss, it was all over the air last year. Maybe they didn't and came up with this on their own. It doesn't really matter.

The question is, which spot is better? And make no mistake, one is better than the other.

Do you like the one with the cutesy visuals which powerfully illustrate that there's a bank on almost every corner?

Or do you like the one with the lame pun which powerfully illustrates that if you speed in Tennessee you will get fucked up?