Pardon the obsessive musings, but here are additional random thoughts inspired by the Coca-Cola Black History Month spot that debuted during the Super Bowl (see Essays 1665 and 1661):
• It’s not surprising that two of Adfreak’s critics — Marian Salzman and Tim Arnold — praised the spot, as both have demonstrated cultural cluelessness in the past year. To be clear, the spot is not awful. But it is contrived and expected from a Black History Month perspective. Visit this blog during February and you’ll see a few BHM ads with identical concepts (or review the BHM ads presented in February 2006). As noted in Essay 1665, copy from the commercial almost completely matches a BHM ad from IBM.
• It’s likely that the commercial’s creators opted against literally identifying people (i.e., hint at individuals via their accomplishments versus calling out Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., etc.) in order to avoid paying rights management fees.
• On a side note, couldn’t Adfreak have invited at least one minority representative to participate in its esteemed panel of industry leaders? It might have demonstrated an attempt to recognize and right the historical exclusivity in our business.
• On another side note, were any Super Bowl spots hatched by minority advertising agencies? This year, ordinary consumers had a better shot at generating Super Bowl spots than minorities. Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith made history on the field. Perhaps the ad industry will do likewise someday.
• It would be interesting to learn which Coke advertising agency produced the commercial. Perhaps it was even created by one of the advertiser’s minority shops. Regardless, the spot reveals lots of the continued inequities on Madison Avenue. For example, Coke’s Super Bowl lineup presented super-high-budget productions. Except for the minority commercial, which featured bottles and titles. Plus, it’s a safe bet that Coke’s minority shops have submitted and executed similar ideas for the client over the years.
In the end, the commercial symbolizes the Coke side of life… in the ad industry.
1 comment:
Actually HJ, the Bud Lite spot with the English class was done my their Latino agency, a fact that didn't get a whole lot of press from the ad trades.
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