Don't worry, I don't plan on boring you with the obvious Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure jokes, but you have to admit that this commercial sure does give off that vibe. I don't suppose it helps that Data East has decided to hire a totally bodacious surfer dude who doesn't mind being publicly humiliated in a major video game magazine. Is this supposed to be the average gamer? Is this what Data East thinks of us? We're all a bunch of ironically stupid kids who use a lot of outdated slang and wear clown costumes?

The biggest problem with this advertisement is that Data East can't even get the Bill & Ted formula right. Do you think a young Keanu Reeves would have said something like, "You should have listened to me, dweeb." Wow, that's totally harsh, dude, it's almost as if you had some fifty year old suit writing what they think a kid would say. This glow in the dark teenager doesn't have a clue, and why should he? Next week he'll be hanging out on the set of The Wonder Years hitting on Danica McKellar.

Oddly enough the kid isn't the worst thing about this advertisement. Over in the small print Data East decides to test your intelligence. "Prove it with North & South, the hot new action strategy game with a twist." So what's the twist? It lets you play as either the north or the south. Hey, wait a second ... that's not a twist. We already knew you could play as either the North or the South, the game is called North & South! A twist would be if you were able to play as an army full of polar bears or if they used crazy laser weapons from outer space. Now that's a twist! You fail, Data East!

FROM: The Many Loves of Bad Advertising