EDITION 11: Pry this vape from my cold dead hands (literally)
Vapes, japes and rats wearing capes. All that and more as we look back on the week that was in the world of Ad Land.
DISCLAIMER: the rats you will see in this edition won’t actually be wearing capes, I just needed the intro to rhyme. Sometimes writing that little bit takes longer than the rest of the newsletter. That was an exclusively glimpse behind the scenes, free of charge. But anyway, the ads were good again this week so let’s take a look.
WHY IS THE GRIM REAPER KINDA… 😏
SA Police have released a new campaign to fight mobile phone distraction while driving via Nation. It’s from back in May, but discussion about it came up on our TikTok FYP in the form of Wil Anderson very condescendingly explaining how comedy works to Gruen Transfer bad boy, Russel Howcroft, and we thought it was funny.
The spot stars the Grim Reaper (we suspect not the actual Grim Reaper, but likely an actor playing them), and urges drivers to “Stop flirting with death.” We see people in the drivers engaging in a frankly erotic exchange with a particularly saucy Grim Reaper while they’re driving. At the end, we see that a crash has happened, and the Grim Reaper’s caller ID appears on the phone.
On Gruen, Russel explains that he doesn’t believe humour works in this category, and instead we should always be using scare tactics. Todd Sampson disagrees (classic), but it’s the moment where Wil Anderson explains to Russel at length about why the ad is funny and how humour works as a whole works that really gets us going. It’s excellent television.
But, we actually might have to agree with big Russ. To be clear, we’re not saying it’s a bad ad - it’s a funny, clever ad with a great tagline. But in this category, that’s not what the purpose of the ad is. The ultimate takeaway from this as needs to be, “If you text and drive, you will crash your car and you will die.” And the humour kind of takes away from that, dulling the message that should really hit home. Ads in this category should prey on emotions and pull at heart strings, instead all I can think about is that Grimmy Reaps is kinda hot, not gonna lie. But also all I’m thinking about is the humour of it all, which makes it lose it’s edge. Maturing is realising that Todd Sampson is kind of a dingus, and Russel was the smartie pants all along. Although Russel has never voted for Jack Nimble when we were on Gruen, so he was wrong those times.
This ad from 2014 is one of the best safe driving spots of all time. I still think about it from to time. Also listen to Russel Howcroft’s podcast AdMission, it’s pretty good.
WHY WOULD I ABUSE VAPES, I LOVE VAPES
The Australian government has teamed up with BMF to tackle vaping and smoking in their new campaign. The integrated campaign falls under the “Give Up For Good” behaviour change campaign, and is split up into a few categories; youth vaping, tobacco and adult vaping. (Note to self: find out which one to watch if you fit into all three).
The adult vaping campaign makes the viewer question if they’re really in control anymore featuring some super creepy visuals, and the youth vaping campaign urges young people to ask themselves, “Why are we still doing this?”
Here’s what we reckon. The adult campaign is great. “I only vape when I drink” is something I have heard many times before. Sometimes it is in the mirror, for example. But we’re not sure about the youth campaign. Urging young people to ask themselves “Why are we still doing this?”, doesn’t make as much sense as telling them that they’re no longer the ones in control. Have you ever seen you mate at the pub lose their vape and get gradually and gradually more frantic and aggressive as they look for it? The idea that vapes are now controlling us is a very scary thought, however is it strong enough to make the little fellas stop, so perhaps that’s why they asked them why they’re still doing it.
BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION HONOUR YOUNG FOOTBALL FANS
Ahead of the launch of the UEFA Euros 2024, Saatchi & Saatchi has teamed up with the British Heart Foundation (BHF) to commemorate the lives of 12 young football fans who lost their lives to heart disease. Saatchi & Saatchi collaborated with OOH Production Company Grand Visual to hand paint murals featuring the fans in their hometowns, including Birmingham, Cardiff, Chesterfield, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Newcastle, Nottingham, and Southampton.
KRAFT CHEESE EMPLOYS RATS: THERE IS HOPE FOR US YET
As part of their NotAnotherTest series, Kraft Cheese has teamed up with agency GUT to test Kraft’s new plant based cheese using four mice. To clarify, they’re calling them mice, but they’re fkn rats you idiots. Anyway, this is a fun spot, it’s nice to see a food brand not shying away from associating their product with rats. It’s a win for rodents everywhere.
HEAR US OUT: COCA COLA AND COCAINE
Coca-Cola’s “Magic Duos” campaign via VML Canada shows them merging their iconic logo with tasty dishes. This is awesome use of their branding, but would like to know who suggested including osso buco. We just wanna talk.
AS ALWAYS, TIKTOK FOR YOUR TROUBLES
This is just good wholesome fun with friends. This is what life’s all about.