Super Bowl Ads – The good, the bad and the green.
February 8, 2010 – 4:31 pmCreative Director, Larry Washington, weighs in on last night’s entertainment.
Another year, another round of super bowl commercial hits and misses. I was excited to see that a few more creative concepts broke through this year. Of course there were still an overwhelming amount of bad ideas propped up by expensive production (hello, Bud Light) but the balance between substance and style seemed pretty good. I was a little surprised at the small amount of any online pushes from the spots aside from the obligatory website on the end frame. There were a few that drove us to their site to “see what happens next” but not many social community building efforts.
The one spot that did jump out to me was Audi’s “Green Police” It was really the only commercial that had an environmental focus (which I found interesting as well).
Audi is basically telling us that this car makes green feel good even though being green takes away pleasure in our lives and is generally awful overall. But isn’t the target for this car a little more green-leaning? (Our research would say yes.) This idea, then, says to a potential customer, “You have green leanings and being green sucks. Our car makes it suck less.” They seem to have gotten carried away with a cool creative idea that was super entertaining but insults the target audience. If you’re positioning a product as green, why degrade the general idea of green? That’s like walking up to someone and saying “Hi. I think your clothes are hideous, your lifestyle disgusts me and you’re pretty much a moron. Wanna go out?”
This spot has gotten mixed reviews online. I’d love to hear your comments on it.
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5 Responses to “Super Bowl Ads – The good, the bad and the green.”
I absolutely agree–that ad really pissed me off to the point that I will let them know it. BTW, I have a sense of humor about greenness–to a point. Poorly done. Luckily for them there were so many other bad ads that this won’t stick out.
By Lew Blaustein on Feb 9, 2010
It seems like green is starting to take the place of ‘PC’, a term that’s always annoyed me. It’s such a lazy way to dismiss people and ideas without having to address what’s behind them, and an easy way to to feel superior in the process. Yeah, this is really tacky and does give a deeply contradictory message.
And can they assume that the Super Bowl audience comes in with hostility towards green? With such huge numbers watching I wouldn’t think so.
By Julie Wuthnow on Feb 9, 2010
Oh, I can’t get my knickers in a knot over this! This was a hysterically funny commercial. It was satire at its best. And look what a great job they did for Audi, we’re all talking about it.
People want regulation to protect them, they don’t want to live in a police state. And all the ad did was let you know that even if you felt green meant an extreme change in life — here’s an opportunity to exercise your need for speed and comfort without sacrifice. I blame the extreme reaction on messages from people who suggest we use 1 square of toilet paper, get rid of our lawn movers, take cold showers. Come on people, get REAL. Consumers by nature consume. Manufacture products that are by design greener to own & operate and you’ll move the needle.
By Wendy Cobrda on Feb 10, 2010
Remember that nobody spends $3 million on a thirty second ad without research. What I find interesting about this is that Audi obviously has identified a market segment that’s beyond green. While this could be unique to their particular demographic, my sense is it’s also indicative of the green fatigue that’s setting in. There’s a new postgreen ethic emerging that is real, practical, smart, and economical. I suspect it is those of us who proudly wore the name environmentalist long before green was ever coined that Audi is targeting.
By Peter Troast on Feb 11, 2010
They obviously created a buzz in the short term, which was the clear goal. After all, we haven’t even seen the ad since. I think the long-term negative stereotypes will outweigh the short-term buzz. It confirms many people’s greatest fears. And makes them seem real. The believers may be turned off and the detractors probably weren’t going to buy the green car anyway, so the buzz may work but not to drive sales.
By Gregg LaBar on Feb 11, 2010