ROME: Perhaps it was just a matter of time before on-screen bugs and crawls blossomed into full-fledged advertisements. The things are so ubiquitous on American TV that a large screen is necessary just to see some of the featured program. Now an Israeli advertiser has taken the crawl concept a bit further. It happened during the recently televised Union of European Football Association final between Manchester and Barcelona. A banner ad appeared every time a player was felled by an injury. YouTuber yrtelaviv preserved a clip.
“An endorsement by Y&R Tel Aviv, which was broadcast in real time when Barcelona’s player was injured,” yrtelaviv writes. “The ad says: ‘A tough pain? Optalgin—Israel’s leading pain killer--for tough pains. The banner appeared every time a player was injured and [lay down] on the grass.”
The crawl ad was created by Shalmor Avnon Amichy/Y&R Interactive. Yrtelaviv’s clip remains available on YouTube. -- Deborah D. McAdams
