Saturday, July 2, 2011
Old Navy’s sweet land of liberty and half-off prices for everyone!
I’ve written a lot of lines to sell a lot of things, but there’s always been a no-fly zone when it comes to certain topics, like this country’s anthems. When it comes to this new Fourth of July spot for Old Navy and the way it rewrites the lyrics to America (My Country, ‘Tis of Thee), some comments in discussion threads tell people like mahself to lighten up. Nah, that ain’t happening. Instead, here’s my counter-offer. Even tacky as hell commercials from local car dealers don’t ‘go there’ when it comes to rewriting an American classic - because they know it’s America who buys their stuff. Getting attention for a brand via polarizing work is one thing, but it also needs to be smart work.
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2 comments:
Yeah, and the craziest part is the spot feels like a local car dealer ad. It’s total shit. The visuals and vocals appear to be the handiwork of an art director and copywriter who probably don’t even know the true lyrics to the anthem, and have a Sarah Palinesque grasp on American history. Somebody needs to shove a bottle rocket up their buttholes. Just a thought.
What's worse is they failed to execute the campaign down to the retail level. And just viewing the tv spot for the first time here - that was better than the desecration at store level.
My local Old Navy had an old TV setup by store's front-door with a looped tape featuring members of the U.S. military. It sat on a rolling cart, sound low and just looked cheap. And while I'm good at tuning things out - it did give me a pang of "shit...this is just awful."
While Old Navy is donating some profits (?) to a troop fund - it made me walk out. For that reason and the fact that the sale was shitty in comparison to other stores Independence Day Sales. (Yeah...I'm a sale whore.)
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