Continuing its Anomaly-created Disruption campaign launched last month, Converse, in two new spots debuting tonight (Grateful, Pageant), attacks the idiocy of beauty pageants, American Idol, democracy, mindless sitcoms, reality shows and video games. While it seeks to set apart the viewer from the idiocy it highlights and, perhaps by disassociation, elevate the viewer in some way, one has to wonder whether or not calling everyone else an idiot is smart marketing.
For sure, the above-mentioned items are idiotically mindless but in a capitalistic society such as the one in which we live, nothing gets created unless people want it. Even if they are idiotic and mind numbing. As current culture indicates and as Converse points out, perhaps a lot of people are suffering from some form of idiotic mindlessness. Or at least the creators of this so-called mindless stuff are.
While we do like the simple intensity of these two new commercials, it’s somewhat overly simplistic to lump everyone except the individual viewer into the categories Converse slams here. While we may dislike the “everyone else is an idiot” approach, we absolutely love the use of no sound (which is intentional) in the spots. That, alone, almost guarantees these commercial decent viewership.
Interpreted from a different angle, these spots aren’t so much slamming the rest of the world as they are motivating the person viewing them to get off their ass, go buy some Converse kicks and make their mark on the world lest they end up the loser these allude to. That’s a good thing.
Overall, the simple messaging and the power of silence outweigh the possibly society-slamming angle theses ads take and, upon repeat viewing, become more and more powerful and, in our mind, more effective.
