Men with comb overs look hapless. Little boys with comb overs look creepy. To see the difference, please watch the latest Jell-O television spot, appropriately titled “Comb Over.”

In the forty-five-second ad built by CP+B, a balding father whose depressing life resembles a deflated balloon schools his son on the importance of the little things, like a cup of Jell-O pudding. In turn, we see some surreal daydream where the son, still about six years old, goes through a day in the father’s life, only now he has a giant cone head and a comb over. If you ever wanted to know what the male offspring of Lord Voldemort and Francis Dolarhyde (Manhunter version, not Red Dragon) would look like, here you go. Is that not the definition of creepy, a little boy who somehow resembles two fictional psychopaths all because of a comb over? Still, the commercial’s surrealist twist manages to make it stand out in an otherwise standard concept. It’s almost sweet, if not for the whole hapless/depressing/pitying reaction that comes along with comb overs.

Credits after the jump.

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And now, for something, er, lighter. These back-to-school posts almost make me wistful for the days when a new pencil case was the joy of my September. But as I have grown, so has the sophistication of academic shopping. To keep with the times, Best Buy is branding themselves America’s go-to “Techfitter” of the season.

To show that they’ll equip students with not only the best technology, but the right technology for their pursuits, CP+B and Best Buy found real students and surprised them with personalized Best Buys, “tech-fitted” to their academic interests in a pair of new Paul Hunter-directed spots. Greg, Aerospace Engineering Major, gets a semi truck parked in front of his house. It opens, and he’s presented with the planetary system, plus a launchable rocket (sadly not available at a Best Buy near you). Lidia, a Marine Biology major, gets an underwater tech experience complete with dolphins and jellyfish. Both personalized surprise scenarios are scattered with Windows 8 laptops and tablets.

Additional spots will air later this month, and my guess is the lucky students will not include an English or PoliSci major, because those experiences would involve sheafs of paper and alcohol. Let’s expect an aspiring architect and an ambitious pre-med; they provide ideal landscapes for Best Buy’s eager urban tech-fitter to make a difference. Credits after the jump.

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Son of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now director, Francis-Ford Coppola, Roman Coppola was on a bit of a winning streak after co-writing Wes Anderson films The Darjeeling Limited and Moonrise Kingdom. However, after directing the near-universally panned Charlie Sheen vehicle, A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, Roman lost a healthy portion of the goodwill he had racked up. As The A.V. Club put it, the film “it isn’t a movie so much as a feature-length perfume commercial for a Charlie Sheen signature cologne with gorgeous packaging and absolutely nothing inside.” So, yeah. It was pretty bad.

Seeking solace from tomato-throwing critics, Roman did what all directors attempting to recover from a stinker do: Join forces with CP+B for a Microsoft TV spot. Here, we see Roman channeling his own life experiences to sell Windows Phones. Sure, says Roman metaphorically through this spot, there are haters are either side of the aisle. But you can’t have the naysayers keep you down, you know? Yes, some people like Apple phones and some people like Samsung phones, just like some people like good movies and some people like other good movies. But, just because your movie isn’t “good” or your phone isn’t “good” either, doesn’t mean to have to be part of the fighting. As Jay-Z once said, “Get that dirt off your shoulder.” Most assuredly, Roman was playing this track on set throughout the production of this ad.

Embrace Roman Coppola, and embrace Nokia Windows phones. Credits after the jump.

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From Boulder-based Victors & Spoils comes the motorcycle spot that crowdsourcing can buy. Debuting alongside the season premiere of FX’s hit show Sons of Anarchy last night, the second installment in the “No Cages” campaign for Harley-Davidson depicts a rather harmless looking young man release a bunch of dogs into the wild wilderness of suburbia.

Why would he do this? Maybe he’s on drugs. Maybe he doesn’t understand that pet-store animals spread disease throughout the community until they’re eventually killed off by raccoons. Maybe the dog’s living situation reminds our friendly anti-hero of his own time spent in the slammer. Or, maybe he’s just a dick. Whatever his motivation, it all makes up for a very “cute” spot. But wait, does “cute” traditionally sell motorcycles to rebellious youth or weary men going through midlife crises? Well, when you consider almost 5 million viewers (3.22 million in the 18-49 demographic) tuned into the SOA last night, maybe you’re not selling a counter culture. Maybe you’re just selling pop culture. Credits (not including concept winner Benjamin Swan of Sioux Falls, SD) after the jump.

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