Someone derail the silver bullet

+ The NYTimes has an article this morning on Coor's Light's new ad campaign which aims to make a play on the phrase "It's 5pm somewhere." The new ads want folks to catch the silver bullet train to the new happy hour time of 4:53pm. Can I puke yet? Granted I've never been a huge fan of the silver bullet campaign - especially not the ones of recent years.

The train's brief onscreen appearance will be followed by an invitation to "Catch the 4:53 to Happy Hour" and a "Happy Hour Countdown" clock, both in onscreen spaces devoted to advertising. Other elements of the campaign, by the Portland, Ore., office of Avenue A/Razorfish, part of aQuantive, may include maps displaying the locations of nearby bars and lounges serving Coors Light.

The 4:53 initiative will be preceded by new television commercials for Coors Light, scheduled to begin Monday. The spots, by Draft FCB in Chicago, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, feature the train rushing across the TV screen to deliver batches of Coors Light, described in a new theme line as “the world’s most refreshing beer."

I'm still not sure what pushing back happy hour by 7 mintues really means - nor how it would apply in the real world since most people really can't just leave early to hit the bar for some subpar beer drinking. Maybe I've got my logical hat on today, but I'm really just not seeing the idea behind this at all. Perhaps there isn't one. I liked this bit from the article though:

The Coors Light campaign's fanciful superlative of "world's most refreshing beer" is what is known in the advertising industry as puffery, a subjective claim that cannot be substantiated because of its broadness.

Such claims are becoming more popular in a world of ad clutter in which marketers strive to stand out. For example, a brand advertised in Valassis coupon inserts in Sunday's newspapers, sold by GPC Pet Products, is called World's Best Cat Litter.