Las Vegas Weekly

30-second chinchilla review

I’ll give you an excuse to go to Vegas.

What’s not Vegasy about lying to your boss to go have some fun? The LVCVA’s latest TV spot involves telling tall tales about small rodents to get out of work and come to Vegas. The ad is the second in a series featuring cute chinchillas with pistols and swords supporting the come-to-Vegas motto: “What’s your excuse?” The first ad, launched last spring, showed a working stiff telling his boss he had a “cultural obligation” to celebrate Revolución de Chinchilli in Vegas. The new one shows an office drone talking his way into an extra day off to celebrate a Three Musketeers-inspired tale of chinchillas saving a small village in France.

While it’s smart to ally Vegas with the working man in down times, and fun to go the fabulist comedy route, the commercials have a slight Taco Bell feel. Is the chinchilla our new “yo quiero” chihuahua? Our AFLAC duck? The idea of telling outrageous lies to come here could be awesome, but somehow the Vegas part is lost in clever chinchilla battles. But who knows—maybe soon we’ll have Chinchilli Day parties hosted by the chinchilla. Stranger things have happened here, and stayed here.