Gaming-Themed Coke Ad Hits Home Run, Wins Stanley Cup
This Sunday was weird, y'all.
I woke up to an eerie quiet that followed me all the way to the gym, where everything seemed fine except for the free weight area, which was deserted. As were the fast food chains and XXX video shops, and the subway and all the friendly local big and tall stores. I opened my ears and listened to the city, and what I heard amazed me: no children being spanked, no wives being maligned for their cooking, nobody buying tube socks because they were too lazy to learn how to do laundry...no blustering red-nosed jackassery at all. Slowly, it dawned on me...somebody had stolen all the straight people!
In a panic I called a friend, who explained nearly everything.
What, exactly, is a "Superbowl" and why is it so freaking super?
But just as I was beginning to grapple with the reality of "football" and its indomitable hold over the minds of heterosexuals, I found my rock: a Grand Theft Auto-themed Coca-Cola advertisement. I still didn't understand the secret meaning of carrying a piece of pork rind over a series of white lines against incredible adversity, but at last I understood why some folks could watch the damn thing. Such wonderful commercials! So I TiVoed it, skipped through the spandex parts, and basked in the warm glow of corporate brainwashing.
Apparently, I was not alone.
Make the jump to see the commercial and read what all the fuss was about.
Indeed, while it isn't new, Coke's gaming-inspired advertisement garnered major attention from major newspapers across this fine, poorly-prioritized country. The Rocky Mountain News, the Detroit News, the Sacramento Bee and the New York Times all heaped praise upon the ad for its creativity and its purposeful nonviolence. The NYT said it best:
Coca-Cola borrowed pages from its own playbook with two whimsical spots for Coca-Cola Classic, “Happiness Factory” and “Video Game,” that were as sweet as they were upbeat. The commercials, by Wieden & Kennedy, provided a welcome counterpoint to the martial tone of the evening.
Now, Superbowl ads are always a big deal (so I hear), but it's worth noting the growing cultural footprint of video games and gaming culture. When a medium - or even more specifically, a genre within a medium - becomes familiar enough to use as a point of reference to sell a product to millions of people during the year's premium ad window...well, that's a clear benchmark. It says that games are recognizable enough to be used to target the mainstream, but it also puts the gaming industry under a spotlight with similar wattage to other entertainment industries such as film and television.
But knowing the pressure these cats are under to top last year's ads, I can't help but wonder if gaming has really entered a new era of universal relevance or if this is merely the result of marketing monkeys trying to be hip, cool, edgy and all the other things they simply aren't. I also wonder how I can get into Peyton Manning's trousers.
Check out the commercial below and let us know what you think.
tiny dancer
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 5 February 2007
· Comments (7)
Other stuff like this: advertisement, coca-cola, commercial, football, grand theft auto, gta, new york times, superbowl
They've been showing it for months in theaters. It is a great ad
I love that ad.
And no, I don't get the big deal about football myself. Sports in general tend to bore me silly, give me a good movie or TV series any day over sports.
Hell, I didn't even know the Superbowl WAS yesterday until I was at work and someone mentioned it.
DREW BREES IS HOTTER!!!!
ya the ads are the only thing good about the superbowl...plus watching Prince is always awesome/hot..i'm up in Canada, so we unfortunatly don't get to see all of the American ads. They are replaced with a Canadian feed of ads.
That ad has definitely been around for a while!
SuperTimsy, you've nailed it! Such a shame that the Saints didn't make it. But at least Archie's son avenged us yesterday..
I had seen that Coke commercial in the movie theatre (oh yes, doesn't everyone love sitting through adverts and THEN sitting through previews?) some time ago.
Pales in comparison to the Snickers "Accidental Kiss" add.