Jolly Rancher Flying Turtle Commercial

If creepy is the new funny, then the latest Jolly Ranchers commercial is hilarious.

The latest in a trend of awkward, what-the-heck-was-that-all-about candy commercials this Jolly Ranchers Crunch and Chew commercial features a turtle that not only uses telepathy to communicate with others, but can also fly (without wings, or course – turtles don't have wings, duh), and when provoked shoot lasers out of its eyes.

And if you think that's a little weird, the turtle is hanging out with some really creepy guys to boot. The first guy is an older tweaked out guy compulsively lifting weights in front of a television. The next guy is sitting at the table with the turtle and looking like he's got a severe case of the munchies.

Candy companies have started hitting the awkwardly unconfortable angle really hard. It started with the Skittles commercial with the guy in an interview who has a really long beard that he can manipulate to grab things with. Naturally, he uses his scraggly beard powers to attempt to grab the Skittles from the interviewer. It's an awkward exchange and it's awkward to watch. But it definitely gets your attention.

We see this trend with snack foods as well. Cheetos commercials have been pushing the awkward envelope with the latest line of Chester Cheetah commercials. In one commercial the cheetah and another guy are having a house party in a house that has barely begun to be built. If you've seen it, you know it's weird, but that's the goal of the campaign. The funny thing is, weird works with snack foods and, perhaps, candy too.

The Jolly Ranchers commercial ends with the turtle feeling provoked by the man's desire to eat him. He shoot off a warning laser shot from his eyeballs and flies out the door. It creates a moment in the room where the viewers look at each other and ask, "did that really just happen?"_x009d_ Jolly Rancher does a good job of working the candy in there as well, so you remember what they're selling too.

What do you think? Are these commercials targeting stoner-types or are they just trying to get your attention?