Pleasant with useful: 5 commercials on important topics
Advertising becomes more human, and the matter is not only in the notorious PR, as it is customary to justify everything that the exhaust finds among the population. Doing advertising simply is no longer considered the norm - even the brand itself cannot be discerned by the strong social message in the commercials of any brand. We have selected several new advertising campaigns, where content and form merge into one strong social overtones.
Cheerios
"Gracie"
Cheerios is the most popular cereal in the United States, traditionally associated with family breakfasts. About a year ago, they released a commercial in which they showed a multiracial family. Suddenly, this cute family ad provoked racist comments on YouTube, negative to such an extent that the creators simply turned off the ability to comment. Representatives of the company later admitted that they were not going to make a campaign against racism at all, but showed a traditional multi-racial family for the USA, hinting at the changed demographic picture in the country. At the Super Bowl this year, the most popular sporting event in the United States, where many companies spend huge amounts of money on advertising during the match, Cheerios showed another video. In it, the same actors (a black dad, a white mom and their daughter) - and during the year events had time to develop: the father informs his daughter that his family will soon be replenished, and the girl, who is not particularly agreeable with this situation, bargains for herself also a puppy.
Autism speaks
"Lifetime of Difference"
An ambitious BBDO New York advertising agency project that serves only one goal - to raise awareness of the need for early diagnosis of autism. This is an exceptional example of commercial advertising that has become completely social. BBDO combined the three 15-second videos of its Band-Aid, Campbell's Soup and AT & T customers into one telling a family story with an autistic child. It begins with a visit to the doctor and tells about the life of one family at different stages, where the family itself looks absolutely normal. This is the essence of the campaign - to show that early diagnosis of autism can make a child's life full. The same actors play in all the commercials, and in the last one, showing matured family members, Reese Bowen, an actor with autism, appears. His real father participated in all the commercials, and framed the campaign interviews with both of them. The advertising message looks too sophisticated, and it is absolutely impossible to discern it in individual videos, but this is a good example of how you can consciously tailor a commercial campaign to an important social matter.
Smirnoff
"The ride home"
Yes, you were not mistaken - this is Adam Scott and Alison Brie in advertising Smirnoff vodka. Without a doubt, alcohol companies in connection with the laws on advertising have the hardest, but in their case the word "social" gets its original meaning - communication and the absence of barriers. The promotional video promoting a safe way home after the party, even if you live 20 meters away, is actually part of the “Exclusive for All” tagline campaign - a nearly four-minute video about how Adam Scott and Alison Bree decided to have a party and along the way, they laughed at VIP-zones, face control, bearded bartenders and conceit. Although Smirnoff hired top stars to advertise, the subtext is still soulful - everyone is theirs, everyone is equal, and if you are drunk, drive home, even if your friend laughs at you.
Nico & Powerade
"Nico Calabria's Story of Defying Expectations"
Niko Calabria was born with one leg, but thanks to family support he grew from a cheerful kid into a confident guy. The Internet knew him even before participating in the advertising campaign of the Coca-Cola sports drink Powerade - at one time he hit the audience with a phenomenal goal during an ordinary football match with absolutely healthy team members. The two-minute video tells the story of Niko from the records of the family video - about tears of despair, joy of victories and character education. The guy is not a professional athlete, but participated in the national team of amputees. You can read the entire story of Niko on the site, and it really inspires - this story, like advertising, becomes a strong story about the strength of character and the need to support people with physical imperfections. It’s hard to compete with this video even for the brilliant advertising of Duracell about deaf athlete Derek Coleman and advertising Guinness about wheelchair basketball.
Medifast
"Tina Shelley's Conversation with Herself"
Attempts to lose weight make even the most self-confident people very vulnerable, and almost no one can speak about this language of advertising - in most cases, thin people advertise skinny ones. A pleasant exception to the rule was the Medifast company commercial (there are three of them in the campaign), in which the heroine speaks with a thinner version of herself, but eight months later. Advertising was really filmed for almost a year, and with a small video editor, it became almost the only example of the correct (medical) approach to losing weight. The ads were taken by real people who actually lost weight, but not to the model state: a man in a tight-fitting shirt that is bursting at the seams, speaks to a new version of himself, a pleasant lady talks to herself eight months later - and they all cry on how changed.