"The Slowskys" are a national television

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

campaign for

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

Cable's Xfinity

broadband In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. ...

Internet service An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...

. The ads feature an

animatronic Animatronics refers to mechatronic puppets. They are a modern variant of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films and in theme park attractions. It is a multidisciplinary field integrating puppetry, anatomy a ...

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked tu ...

couple, Bill and Karolyn Slowsky. The ads are based on the idea that

DSL Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric dig ...

, which Xfinity claims is slower than their service, is only fast enough for people who like things very slow. In the television ads, the two turtles are usually shown together explaining why they are so happy with DSL service, and that if they got Xfinity, it would be far too fast for them. The characters were created by

Goodby Silverstein & Partners Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (also known as GSP) is an advertising agency based in San Francisco. History The agency was founded on April 15, 1983 as Goodby, Berlin & Silverstein by Jeff Goodby, Andy Berlin and Rich Silverstein. Andy Berlin le ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, produced by RSA, puppeteered by

Stan Winston Stanley Winston (April 7, 1946 – June 15, 2008) was an American television and film Prosthetic makeup, special make-up effects creator, best known for his work in the Terminator (franchise), ''Terminator'' series, the first three ''Jurassic Pa ...

. The campaign won the gold

Effie Award Effie is a feminine given name, sometimes a short form (hypocorism) of Euphemia (Greek: Εὐφημία). Notable people with the name include: Women * Effie Bancroft (1840–1921), English actress and theatre manager * Effie Boggess (1927-2021 ...

in 2007. TheSlowskys.com was a character

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

on which everything slow is celebrated. Recently however, the blog was taken down and replaced by a peaceful, permanent

flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Barry Allen) ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Wally West, the first Kid ...

widget that included their commercials, downloads, and merch. The blog also redirected to Karolyn's Blog when you go to the previous archives on the Slowskys website on archive.org. In the 2013 ad series, this time targeted to Comcast Business, the Slowskys, Bill and Karolyn, have a diner filled with DSL Internet. This also introduced Kevin, one of the workers. It was a 2 commercial series. A knockoff of ''The Slowskys'' by Canadian cable provider

Shaw Communications Shaw Communications Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications company which provides telephone, Internet, television, and mobile services. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Shaw provides home telecommunications services primarily in Alberta and Br ...

is called ''The Snailskis''. Another knockoff of The Slowskys is the No Shells Pistachios promotion which is similar to The Slowskys. In the 2011 ad series, A couple commercials compared

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in ...

Fios and

AT&T Internet AT&T Internet is an AT&T brand of broadband internet service. Previously, AT&T Internet was branded as U-verse Internet and bundled with U-verse TV, which was spun off into the newly independent DirecTV in 2021. AT&T Internet plans powered by fi ...

, and

Qwest Qwest Communications International, Inc. was a United States telecommunications carrier. Qwest provided local service in 14 western and midwestern U.S. states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dako ...

buying

CenturyLink Lumen Technologies, Inc. (formerly CenturyLink) is an American telecommunications company headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana, that offers communications, network services, security, cloud solutions, voice, and managed services. The company is ...

. These were only aired on TV and shown on other portfolios. There were also comic strips of the Slowskys during this period. Comedian

Andrew Donnelly Andrew Donnelly (born 29 March 1973) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). Although Donnelly, a half forward, was drafted by Sydney in the 1992 AFL Draft he remai ...

is the voice of Bill Slowsky and actress (and former member of

The Groundlings The Groundlings is an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improvisational theater techniques ...

)

Rachael Harris Rachael Elaine Harris (born January 12, 1968) is an American actress and comedian. She is known for her numerous acting roles, such as starring as Dr. Linda Martin in ''Lucifer'', her role in the ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid'' film series, and as a gu ...

provides the voice for Karolyn. Son Bill Slowsky, Jr. (featured in a reboot campaign starting in May 2019) is voiced by musician Lucas Grabeel. When the Slowsky fad reached its peak, the Slowskys Website created a fictional

campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * Bl ...

in which the Slowsky couple traveled around their block in an old fashioned political circuit. On top of their vehicle, multiple bullhorns would amplify the Slowsky's voices so that people could hear them. The advertising video showed the Slowskys in the vehicle, and with Bill screaming " BE STILL WITH BILL!", much to Karolyn's annoyance, with "

Hail to the Chief "Hail to the Chief" is the personal anthem of the president of the United States, adapted by James Sanderson from an original Scottish Gaelic melody. The song's playing accompanies the appearance of the president of the United States at many ...

" playing in the background. The party even offered membership cards, sold merchandise, and requested slogans for their platform. In the 2019 ad series, in promotion for

World Turtle Day World Turtle Day is an annual observance held every May 23rd. It began in 2000 and is sponsored by American Tortoise Rescue. The day was created as a yearly observance to help people celebrate and protect turtles and tortoises and their disappea ...

, Bill Jr. reveals that he is a big fan of the speed and convenience offered by Xfinity and its service-related smartphone app, leading to his father ending each ad with blunt dismissals (such as "I'll pass" and "I'd rather not") of his son's impassioned advocacy for added speed. The official Xfinity Twitter account got taken over by Bill Slowsky Jr. on the same day. As of now, 2 commercials are "partially" lost, including a audio file of a Slowskys commercial being different from the Comcast "Rabbit" commercial which is found, but the"Turtle.mp3" file is locked due to not logging in to Effie.com or a major bug in the audio player. A tweet posted by one of the Slowskys directors shared a video of how the Slowskys were puppeteered. The entire Comcast Slowskys portfolio is on the Effie.com website, but you need a subscription to unlock it.

References

External links

Home page of The Slowskys (Recently Altered)Embroidered Splash Screen (Original)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slowskys Advertising characters Advertising campaigns Fictional turtles Internet memes Fiction about politics Animatronics Male characters in advertising Female characters in advertising