The Importance of Not Being Earnest
Based on an early look at commercials, I predict Bud Light will win the Super Bowl ad game this year, with a lemonade-flavored seltzer, no less. Why?
The importance of not being earnest.
Earnest, as in the countless rallying cries and brand manifestos and pep talks that will be directed at Americans from a range of brands this Sunday.
The many "What if, instead of..."
The abundance of "As Americans, we know if we all pull together...”
As well as the ubiquitous "We're proud to support..."
There will be children looking at the camera, eyes large. There will be shots of working Americans, arms crossed. There will even be the same stock footage used in multiple ads to demonstrate our resilience. Check that here.
These ads will be designed to lift us up, to inspire us, to tell us to keep pushing. And, as a writer of many manifesto ads in my lifetime, I can tell you right now, they will fall on deaf ears and fall flat on their face. They will land like a relic from a bygone era, a halftime speech for a world that has changed beyond our ability to comprehend during these last twelve months. They might have worked after 9/11, but those ads now feel like SNL parodies, no matter how well-meaning they are.
America doesn't need a pep talk. America needs to laugh. Because we've reached the state of ridiculousness where there is nothing to do but laugh.
That's why Bud Light's Lemonade Seltzer ad, despite probably being a horrific beverage and one I won't ever drink, will win the Super Bowl. It is the metaphor that perfectly encapsulates 2020. Shit started raining down. It ruined things. It ruined, and took, lives. It ruined businesses. It ruined marriages. It ruined careers. It ruined childhoods. It even ruined manifesto ads, though some will say that happened long ago. Meanwhile, we’re still hovering between Idiocracy and whatever comes next.
We don't need a pep talk. We need to laugh and then begin to understand how to move on. But an inspirational speech? Don't make me laugh.