Right Away, Mr. Speilberg

As I've mentioned before, two other PCVs and I are creating a 3-day business seminar.  To assist with the marketing class, we decided to shoot a commercial.  If I can figure out how to post video next time I'm in the capital, I'll try to put it here.  For now, content yourselves with this written account of the commercial:

SETTING: A cold, winter day.  The ground is covered in ice.  A young boy and girl are walking together.  The boy is carrying a couple bags of groceries.

SCENE 1: The Street
Boy: I was hoping you'd like to go to the disco with me on Saturday?
[Suddenly, Boy slips on the ice and falls.  The groceries - especially the eggs and flour - go all over him.]
Girl1: Never!  Look at you - you can't even stand on your own two feet!  [Girl storms away]

SCENE 2: The Store
[A saddened and messy boy returns to the store to buy more groceries to replace those destroyed when he fell]
Store Owner: What happened to you?
Boy: I slipped on the ice and all my eggs fell on top of me.  And then my girl said she didn't want to go to the disco.
Store Owner: You know what you need?  Yak-Traks!  [shows sign in store]
Boy: [Sees a sign for a new product called, "Yak-Traks."  Boy reads the sign and sees that this product promises to keep you from slipping on ice.]  Hey, mister, do these things really work?
Store Owner: You bet!  They're the best things in the whole store.  And cheap too!  Only 50 lei!
Boy: Wow, I'll take 'em!  [Boy puts on Yak-Traks]
[que "Bad to the Bone" music - Boy's messy clothes are magically transformed into a super-cool outfit.  Boy leaves store]

SCENE 3: The Street II
[Girl2 and Girl3 see the new, improved Boy]
Girl2: Would you walk us home?  It's so cold and slippery we might fall without you.
Girl3: Would you like to go to the disco with us on Saturday?
Boy: [looking directly at the camera and giving a "thumbs up"]  Thank you, Yak-Traks!

We plan to talk about the ad with our students.  Since Yak-Traks are designed to fit over shoes and not high-heels (which most women in Moldova wear) we really needed to market this product toward men.  Thus, it made sense for the purchaser in the commercial to be a man.  It also made sense to associate purchasing these Yak-Traks with being able to attract women, a typical male goal.  Having the store and the sign show people where our product will be available, and describing the price as "cheap" makes our audience more likely to purchase.

We're also going to use this ad as part of a larger recruitment video that we will show to other PCVs who might be interested in teaching at our seminars in the future.