Bass Hotels & Resorts, High School Reunion
A leggy woman arrives at her high school class reunion and everyone turns to look as she slinks down the stairs and across the room. The narrator ticks off the money she spent on plastic surgery: "New nose $6,000; lips $3,000, new chest $8,000."
Then the woman is stopped by an obnoxious guy who thinks he recognizes her and he says, "Ahhh, don't tell me, I never forget a face..."
The narrator continues, "It's amazing the changes you can make for a few thousand dollars."
Then a look of horror crosses the guy's face as he realizes and says, "Bob? Bob Johnson?" With a wicked smile, the woman says, "Hi Tom!"
Holiday Inn, which has also spent a lot on renovations, closes with the narrator saying, "Imagine what happens when we spend a billion. Holiday Inn, on the way."
This spot -- perhaps the first to deal with sex-changing transsexualism -- was very popular in the ad industry and received positive reviews. Nonetheless, unhappy Holiday Inn's franchisees and a call-in campaign from the Southern Baptists convinced the hotelier to yank the spot after its $1 million debut on the Super Bowl -- thus few people ever saw it.
I'd like to know, (as would a straight male friend) whether the woman in the ad was a genetic female, or a MTF transsexual.
Either way, it was a terrific ad, and deserves more exposure.