COMMERCIALS, when well thought of?armed with a compelling concept and done with creative flair?become more than just time fillers as we impatiently wait for our favorite TV show.

Case in point: a couple of very interesting and unusual commercials for candy brands that have been attracting a lot of attention lately. They might not be airing on national TV, but thanks to video-sharing site YouTube, we can now check them out as well.

The Hungry Pinoy

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI-pfbZ5tTU

Search for: New Filipino Thai Skittles Commercial Reflects the Rainbow Mirror

An axiom says never to piss off someone who just woke up. It may be the same for hungry people?or at least that?s what the new Skittles TV ad suggests.

Here, a Thai tailor is helping an American man fit a suit. What?s weird is, the customer?s reflections in the three mirrors are different: an African-American, a Latino and a Filipino.

The Filipino is the star of the commercial. He is shown holding a bag of Skittles and eating the candy. The tailor in his native language tries to stop the Filipino from eating and the Pinoy replies, ?Eh nagugutom ako eh.? Then, annoyed, he kicks the mirror, much to the astonishment of the American. The Thai tailor can only laugh. The end.

Some interesting comments have been floating in cyberspace about this ad. There are some who are not exactly proud of how Pinoys are depicted in the commercial: hungry, easily annoyed and violent. Some say the Filipino even cussed (though part of the dialogue is unintelligible).

At the end of the day, only one question needs to be answered: How the hell did they understand each other when they were speaking in their own tongues?

Eyebrow Dance

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCgEYEuyGpQ

Search for: Cadbury Eyebrow Dance?Freestyle Don?t Stop the Rock

If you think your little brother or sister is talented, wait until you see the kids in the latest commercial for chocolate brand Cadbury.

Two kids, a boy and a girl, are in a studio. When the photographer leaves them to answer a phone call, the impatient boy clicks on his watch for some music. But instead of singing or dancing along to it, the two have their eyebrows dance along to the song! They start with a simple eyebrow raise, and when the music gets faster and more complicated, so do the eyebrow moves.

What?s fascinating is how the scene uses several camera angles (reminiscent of Rey Pumaloy?s ?Aminin? chismis segment in Eat Bulaga). The end finds the girl (who is in a purple dress?Cadbury?s packaging is purple, after all) playing with a pink balloon and making DJ scratch sounds with it.

The most hilarious part has the camera zooming in on the girl?s eyebrows making furious movements. Funny, astonishing and scary (in a Linda Blair kind of way) all at the same time. My 7-year-old niece blurted ?Ohmigod? and buried her head in my chest when she saw the scene. ?I hate it,? she said, which is a very strong reaction from a viewer.

Did they use special effects to make the eyebrows dance so fast? Can you imagine how the auditions for this commercial were like?

Have you seen any cool commercials lately?

E-mail the author at ninomarksablan@yahoo.com