“And expanic people too.”

This one’s been out for a few months, but it touches on something I’ll be talking about in a new podcast coming soon. You’ve seen me write about how much I like Rhett & Link here before and their low-budget approach to sending up Hi-LARRY-ass local ad badness, but this one makes me wonder why they needed to bring race into it so heavily.

Part of what they do is find some little tidbit or insight about a company and make that the hero in their spots. And here, the company that furniture retailer Red House uses for its customer financing (MicroBilt), does pride itself on giving credit to anyone, no matter how bad their credit history.

While some retailers might consider someone’s credit score and their race when approving a purchase, there is almost no focus on credit history alone here. There’s definitely comedy to be mined there however.

R&L are the first production company or agency I can think of that pre-emptively countered potential backlash with an explanation of their approach. Large brands never do until after the shit hits the fan. Having said that and having read it, I just don’t know however that the race card did anything more than get attention for the company in this case.