When Poor Taste Has A Point
- October 27th, 2009
- 2 Comments
Lots of questionable choices in advertising lately. First there was the #pepsifail episode (the objectionable app was dropped two weeks post-apology), and now we have DirecTV’s newest commercial, a reenactment of a scene in “Tommy Boy” that combines new footage of David Spade interacting with Chris Farley, who died of a drug overdose in 1997.
Once again, we’re hearing an outcry amplified by social media, with some YouTube viewers calling the spot “creepy,” “distasteful” and a “stupid idea.” This thread has since been picked up by mainstream news sources who pose the central question as ” is it too soon?” and “does this ad offend?” I’m less curious about how soon is too soon (it has been over a decade) and more interested in the reality that while the ad does feel wrong…. so did a lot of Chris Farley’s humor. And while I’m not entirely convinced this means the ads will endear Farley’s fan base (i.e., mainly dudes of all ages) to satellite television, I’m not buying that it’ll completely turn them off either. Especially given Farley’s friends and family’s involvement and approval with the project… and the potential “fun” to be drawn at the expense of the oversensitive. Taking a look at the YouTube page myself, I did see some complaints about exploitation and disrespecting his memory, but I saw a lot more of comments like these:
“Chris Farley, who could find the funny sh!t in everything. He would most likely laugh his head off at this! Come to think of it, if you find this ‘distasteful’ then you probably weren’t his demographic.”
“For those that think this is distasteful, wrong, or inappropriate you have no taste in comedy!! this is one of, if not, the most recognizable Farley moment. I love this commercial, and im gonna watch tommy boy 2morrow! RIP Chris Farley” [sic]
“Chris Farley is a legend. If anything this will make a new generation aware of his movies”
These comments made me want to open up the question to Ypulse readers of what their guess for the ROI on this spot will be? Certainly more brand awareness. But will we actually see more interest in the services offered by Direct TV… or a bunch of Farley fans watching a copy of “Tommy Boy,” adding it to their Netflix queue and/or watching some vintage SNL clips on YouTube, possibly exposing new, younger fans in the process. Thoughts?
Sorta Related
“Microsoft has yanked its sponsorship from Fox’s upcoming Seth MacFarlane comedy/variety special over content concerns.” [Variety]
For more coverage of youth marketing, go to the Ypulse Youth Marketing Channel sponsored by Youth Marketing Connection.
we were talking about this ad in my media writing class, and we came to the conclusion that the good far outweighs the bad, and the bad is fairly subjective anyways. chris farley’s estate gets money, directv gets money, tommy boy gets a spike in netflix rent numbers, and no one except bloggers and alarmists care otherwise.
the first time i see the ad i’m dealing with the cognitive dissonance between the old and the new.
the second time i see the ad i’m pointing it out to my family and trying catch how they put together the two layers, old and new.
the third time i see it i wonder whether or not this type of mash-up is really going to sell the product.
only when i read this post do i remember that it’s an ad for direcTV.
i realize that this is part of a series they are doing that blends familiar images with a pitch, but the imprint of the brand on the presentation isn’t coherent from one ad to the next - no jingle, no logo in the corner - so each ad feels different and has to be absorbed individually.
i think now that i’ve identified it as a direcTV ad, mostly through this analysis, the ad will no longer hold my attention. the spell of the entertainment value has passed and the message was lost to me in the process. if you had asked me to name the product before reading this post i wouldn’t have been able to.
so in the sense that the ad generated a discussion, which caused me to think about the product, then it’s successful. i think the questions of taste are part of what’s driving interest, which gets people talking, which is the point. but the ad itself failed to connect the product with me as a viewer.