I started getting such overwhelming response from this ad that I decided to post a page to answer these questions to cut down on my overstuffed mailbox.

Q: How did your site get picked for the Commercial?
Best Buy found Frogland and decided the website was fun. (I don't know how they found the site...The writer claims that on a whim he did a search on frogs and came across it...saying that he really liked frogs too.) They contacted me via dropping me an email note and asked if I would be willing to participate in the filming of their next commercial. They were apparently doing a series on "interesting websites" in the hopes that the Internet would be reason enough for folks to get more excited about getting a computer.
To be honest, there aren't any Best Buy stores here in Oregon. I actually thought it was some little local store from Minnesota (where they were writing from) and figured it wouldnt be a big deal. (Boy was I ever in store for a surprise!) So, I agreed to do the ad, figuring it should be a fun and "different" experience, as long as they didn't try to make me say something that wasn't true.

Q: What was filming the commercial like?
To my surprise, the Best Buy folks showed up with a full camera crew at our little apartment. There must have been over 25 people crammed into that tiny place!
The first thing they said when they came in was "HEY!....wheres all your frog stuff?!?" (I guess they figured I must be as big a freak offline as I am online) When I explained to them that all my "Frog Stuff" was posted on the web, they immediately went out and started shopping around for frog paraphenalia: trinkets, posters, and so forth. I had no idea how many things could be rented before! They even rented a bunch of LIVE frogs that could be held (Aquatic frogs like my dwarf frogs need to stay underwater.)
The funniest part was that they practically replaced all our furniture with stuff that would look like what they thought people would expect a "savvy computer user's home to look like". I tried to tell them that savvy computer users are geeks like me and that if they really want to be true to life, they should spread a few extra pizza boxes on the floor and line my desk with empty Mountain Dew cans...but I guess they didn't agree. <grin>
They then proceeded to spend about 12 hours interviewing me...asking me completely random questions about frogs, my site, and so on...saying that later they would edit it all together to make something fun out of it all. Happily, they never asked me to say anything about actually buying anything!
They even had a few camera shots of Floyd, though none of those made it into the final cut.
The writer and editors told us that they had cut 3 different ads from the days activities. The hardest sell was (of course) the one they ended up being told by their higher-ups to use.
Overall, it was an interesting and unique experience...and really disconcerting when I found out that the ads were being run nationally (I caught one of the ads while watching something on the Comedy Channel! yikes!) The crew that came out to visit us was very friendly and we generally had a good time doing the whole thing. However, I'm ...um... not planning on quitting my day job!

Q: What did you get for being in the Commercial?
They gave us basically all the computer equipment that I was using in the ad. (The machines I had been useing were old and outdated). They also gave me a really nice color scanner, (actually nicer model than the one used in the ad) so I can scan all those great photos of frogs that visitors send in. They gave Floyd a bit of money even though they didn't use his footage in the ad.

Q: Tell me about the Pac Man Frog!
The Pac Man Frog that appears in the ad is an albino version of the Pac Man frog, or Argentinian Horned Frog, that you can read about in the Frog Info pages. He may look cute and tiny in the ad, but he will eventually grow up to be quite large! Generally, I don't recommend handling frogs because they don't really like it that much, but if anyone was concerned, I can assure you that I washed my hands very well both immediately before and after I handled the frog on camera.

Q: Where did you get that cool frog toy in the commercial?
Actually, I got that as a present from the Best Buy crew...I think they just got it at a toy store..(I'm amazed at how many emails I'm getting asking about this!)

Q: Where is that Kooky Looking Frog that appears on the print ads in the newspaper?
You can find my crazy looking "Van Gogh Frog" in the Frog Art Gallery, on My latest Frog Doodles page.
He's also featured on a T-shirt design in "Ye Olde Frogge Shoppe"

Other sites used in the Best Buy "web page" ad series:

• The Hair Police -- a hair salon that specializes in radical looks.
• S.O.B. (The South Padre Island Sons Of Beach Sandcastle Page) -- build a better sand castle.