If it's self-satire, does it make it better? #NotAllMillennials are plaid-wearing, craft-beer-drinking, designer-beard-sporting narcissists with 200 integrated apps on their iPhone 6+, riding around on a hoverboard with a Fjallraven backpack and a Juice Press smoothie.
Heh, #NotAllMillennials. Now there's a campaign.
I'm closest to the target demographic here - as an official 'millennial' (born in 1987) - although I've never particularly understood or identified with this bracket. To offer some explanation, we talk about 'digital natives', but it wasn't until High School that I got my first email address. The first purchase I ever made online was a Victorinox Swiss Army Knife in the early 2000s and it took me a whole month of persuading for my Dad to let me use his credit card. Back then, ordering anything online was seen as dodgy at best and illegal at worst. So while I've always loved digital, I've never swum through it like a fish through water - nor been massively concerned with my likes and follows. And yet, yes, I'm part of this generation - this homogenous mass of so-called Millennials.
To address the ad itself, I find it ineffective and narcissistic - with a somewhat mixed message. Okay, so these American political candidates are 'douchefucks' or whatever we want to call them - but the concept of nominating Millennials en masse is muddled and silly. But not haha - I wish I'd though of that silly but, meh - I get it, silly. Political satire is rife right now, and the advertising industry is poised at the forefront to make an impact. But pieces like this, while undoubtedly adding to the conversation - don't really have anything useful to say. We know Trump is an egomaniac. But he's also incredibly popular with millions of disaffected middle-class Americans who feel ignored by Obama's progressive policies. Something is rotten in the state of America, and it'll take more than a piece of cheeky satire to make a real impact.
Also, is the narrator Aubrey Plaza? I'm normally freakishly accurate with voiceovers and it sounds exactly like her.
Why is there no pay off in the copy? I was expecting at least a clever line. I don't really get the concept - are we being told that driving is a circus, a chaotic mess? And Lyft is better? Why? Very mixed messages.
Also a young female driver? Really? That might be a fantasy too far.
I'm so glad Fatima La'Juan Muse brought this disgraceful bit of inherent racism to light.
I mean, really, how can we look at that picture and see anything other than hegemonic black oppression? That poor black girl might as well have shackles around her wrists, and be picking cotton in a field as her powerful white overlord sister whips her.
We should count ourselves lucky that people like Fatima La'Juan Muse exist to open our eyes to how racist everything in the world is. Without people like her, we might not have seen anything other than a group of girls playfully posing together.
Thank you so much Fatima La'Juan Muse. What a hero.
I don't get it, and I'm not going to make any effort to. Is this for real? It it a joke. I don't give a shit any more. And FYI, all this 'body positivity' is cute, but for most people the best way to feel confident and sexy is lost 20lbs of fat and put on 10lbs of muscle.
Of course no one wants to hear that, everyone wants easy solutions. I got in shape and all it took was three months of dedication, healthy eating, daily struggle, and making myself go to the gym after work every day. Don't feel like going to the gym? Tough shit, you're going. Neck hurts? Tough shit, you're going. Headache? Tough shit, you're going.
This is part of the reason I believe that the majority of men don't buy into the body positivity myth. Being out of shape doesn't feel good, and one feels less confident as a result. A new pair of underwear isn't going to change that.
Also does anyone else find it hilarious that the blonde guy - who looks like a beautiful sculpted model - says:
"If you're confident in yourself and you're happy... then that's what is going to come across as beautiful to other people, not what you look like."
This is one of my pet peeves, because it's complete bullshit; not just a total lie but a total deviation from everything we know about the world and about how the world works. Millions of years of evolution doesn't just suspend itself because you're feeling confident and happy. We live in a totally superficial world, and this is the biggest piece of shit myth advertising has been peddling since day one.
Tl;dr: 'Spray this Axe and get laid' has become 'Just be confident and get laid'. They're both lies, and I hate lies in advertising.
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