It would have to be right after I posted about the glory of Anthem spots that an absolutely boring, soulless Anthem comes out–and one for a great cause, too
The Alliance for Climate Protection, the global warming watchdog group famously led by Al Gore, released this first spot today. Credits go to the Martin Agency, though as far as credits go, this one doesn’t deserve much.
Strategically, there’s not much to be proud of here. This spot tries to tap into Americans’ national pride. A sort of “we’ve had the answer before…We’ll have it this time, too.” All in all, it’s about the least realistic message they could have hoped for. It’s reassuring, not alarming. It doesn’t seem to insituate that you’ll have to do anything. You can turn your AC up in your gas-guzzling SUV; We’ll fight global warming. Which is exactly where this spot begins to unravel.
The target audience for this campaign is a joke. The spot seems to speak to Baby Boomers and older. What 20-something you know of is emotionally roused by D-Day anymore? To what forward-thinking American is the Space Race anything other than a curiousity from the past? Advertising 101 insists that if you’re trying to convince people to change the world, people over the age of 50 aren’t going to do it for you. This campaign reaches to an apathetic middle in such a bland way that it’s not going to move anyone to do anything.
Creatively, it’s a mess.
Three examples of how we “didn’t wait,” designed to inspire pride and confidence.
1. America’s policy in WWII
2. America and race relations
3. America and the Space Race
Anybody who knows the first thing about American history knows that these are about the three worst examples you could find to prove America’s quickness to solve problems. America let Hitler ravage Europe for five years while clinging to a poorly-guided philosophy of neutrality. Half the developed world still thinks of Americans as being ass-backwards in terms of racial equality. And we didn’t get anything into space until the Soviets had already gotten two satellites and a dog there.
There’s a small part of you that prays that this is all the joke. That this spot’s not about pride, it’s about shame. With a blandly positive “we can solve this” attitude, it could have just as easily been tagged with a GE “Ecomagination” ending or Chevy’s “This is Our Country”.
Bottom line is this, Al: If you want to save the world from global warming, you’re never gonna do it this way.
Filed under: Work | Tagged: Al Gore, Alliance for Climate Protection, Bad, Martin Agency
