I don't know whether I read this somewhere or I heard it in conversation - that eventually adverts will (probably only some - this may become a genre in itself) return to their original function - ie purely and simply describing what the product is and does. I don't see this in the way of the ad industry all of a sudden growing a conscious about the manipulations they have been serving the unsuspecting masses for so many years, but more in the postmodern style sense. There is one ad i remember as growing up for a type of paint - ronsil or ronsons or such - the tag line was "does exactly what it says on the tin". All fair and well - and i was not at that stage in my life where i had the need to protective coat a fence or garage wall (though I wonder if i went to buy a can of paint, would i still be swung to buy said brand?) - but this is a side thought - what really got me in conjunction with the first idea was when I was cycling into town a few days ago - there is a part of one of the main arteries into the center of Copenhagen, coming from the north, that has a restricted traffic policy, that is no cars, private vehicles i believe, are allowed to use it. It is reserved for buses, commerce, bikes and the such. But there, a few days ago, as bold as the baldy head on his shoulders, a man, about the same age as myself, if not younger, was going down the road in his, for want of a better phrase, "pimped up mobile" - clean white, wide wheels - you know the type for I am sure that they exist throughout the planet. Normally I wouldn't give shit, but someone on a bike cut him off and he blasted his horn. Now you may think that the cyclist cut him off and he had the right to react as he did - but he shouldn't have been there in the first place - the point of all this, was i caught myself looking to see what brand/make of car he was driving - probably for reasons to reinforce my own prejudices about young men with baldy heads and gold chains - oh yes, dear reader, gold chains were of course involved, only to compound your own prejudice and to see that you, like me, know and despise (or for the more compassionate in the audience, feel sorry for) this kind of example of the species.
But, the car had no name, no markings of any kind - and by it's shape, I couldn't make out what it was - to put it simply, I was enthralled - not only by the nameless car, not only by the notion of how this could apply to other products, but how this bully of a human had broken some intellectual prejudice i unconsciously held about the buying power of money and how I saw people like him needing the ethos and pathos of a brand name to justify their ignorance.
Thank you for the surprise chain clad bully boy!

And so the idea for an ad - a car, seen from different angles on a white bg - and the tagline - "It´s a Car" - only one of the bigger manufacturers could get away with this and perhaps when there is a mass release of a hybrid, which I believe, are still being sold on the fringes.
This would work on many levels and could work for many products - though if it would be over used then it's potency would of course decrease - that why i believe it could be brilliant as a car ad.
What could it work for - here is a quick litmus test -
Beer - "It's a beer" - no
Computer - "It´s a computer" - perhaps, if the product being sold was a comp but somehow appeared differently eg a smart phone . but then you could say "It's a Smart phone" with emphasis on the "smart"
The Bible - "It´s a Book" - would annoy the FC's - could be used on a satirical level with any religious text. Harry Potter too - "It's a Story"
(here the thought come into my head of introducing the word "only" but then that would defeat the purpose of trying to set the product out. apart from the rest - yes, you would be setting it out from the rest, but in a negative fashion - It's only a book" then what is so special about it and why should you be wasting my time trying to advertise it to me - bring it to my notice"
This "It's a ....." whatever method is more a kick against the ad industry in itself - again, i think this is why this could only work on the more traditional campaigns - tv, billboards - and for already established brands.
I guess in a way, it is going back to the "Coke is it!" slogan - what more can be said by that - but that was said at a time when we had to be reassured and it was easy to reassure us - you will be alright, just rest your head her - and we would and drift off to the arms of our gingham wearing mothers or whoever...
and here - "it's a ..." - there is no pretension - only the pretension embodied in the postmodernism of it all - and that for a few folk would be all the pretension one needs.