Here’s an amazing commercial from MTV that captures all the humorous elements of a boyfriend coming over to his girlfriend’s house to pick her up and facing the wrath and annoyance of her family as well as his girlfriend’s embarrassment over the confrontation. It ends in the usual way with the girl grabbing the guy and running out of the house as the family continues to berate. But, there’s a twist to this ad. The boyfriend is black, the family white and they, not the black guy, speak “beatbox” which, in a stereotypical twist, the black guy can’t understand. The ad ends simply with “Speak.” It’s a powerful message in many ways. It encourages communication on many levels. Parent to child. Child to parent. Family member to family member. Family to boyfriend. Girlfriend to boyfriend. Without one understandable word, the ad communicates better than most ads that carry understandable words.
