The Superbowl was held today, and with it came the Superbowl ads. In Canada, our live feed of the game is overridden with Canadian commercials, mostly for Goldbond Medicated Foot Powder. It detracts from the spectacle, especially since the Superbowl is comprised of 50% commercials, 25% half-time shows delivered by faded rock stars, and 25% time-outs.
I barely watched this year. Instead I was forced to watch children’s programming. At nearly every commercial break there was the same damn ad for Yop. I shit you not: this commercial has been on the air for over six years.
I put this copy of the video up because I know it will force you to watch another commercial before you get to the real video. How meta is that? It’s convoluted, it’s weird and it’s unnecessary. It angers me, and it’s art.
Take a look at this commercial. First off: it’s vaguely racist. A couple of white kids having their CG mouths sing with a Jamaican accent. Is Yop even Jamaican? If so, why is Canada it’s prime demographic? What is Yop? All I’ve been able to discern is that it’s some type of breakfast drink. I think it might just be yoghurt that’s been left out in the hot Jamaican sun too long.
It’s not even the product or the commercial that gets me. It’s the fact that it’s been on the air for over six years. SIX YEARS. The Taco Bell dog likely didn’t even live that long before he was turned in a burrito. The company that made it apparently blew their entire marketing budget on the one commercial, but still had enough money left over to air it twenty times a day, every day, on every channel, for six years. I shit you not: I saw this commercial three times today on two different cable channels. My six year old step-son started singing the song at bedtime. THE COMMERCIAL IS OLDER THAN HIM.
I tried researching the video and discovered it had it’s own facebook page with 86 likes. Your Grandma probably has more friends than that on her page. ……OH SHIT! AS I’M TYPING THIS THE COMMERCIAL IS PLAYING AGAIN ON CANADIAN MTV! THAT’S THE THIRD CHANNEL TODAY!
It knows I’m talking about it…
I’m sincerely not writing that for comedic effect, or as hyperbole. It was literally playing as I was writing about how often it’s on. I’ve seen this commercial more than I’ve seen my own parents over the last few years.
If you do the math, (because I’m not good with math), a large percentage of the Canadian television industry is funded by the Yop company. They control a little piece of the media everywhere they go. That means they could put poison in it tomorrow and we’d never hear about the deaths due to a media blackout.
Is this commercial really so successful that it has to be the ONLY commercial? It’s got a catchy jingle and it clearly conveys that Yop is a thing you drink, without getting into the nitty-gritty of what Yop actually is (toothpaste and motor oil?). Think of how many commercials you see for something simple like milk. Why does milk even need commercials? It’s milk. Are you going to be swayed over to milk’s competition (possibly soy-milk?) if they don’t have commercials playing? Does having a commercial do anything for milk’s sales? There’s no possible way to even prove the effectiveness of a milk commercial. Any consumer who’ll say they were influenced is lying.
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