Kitchenaid - Black stainless steel / Freedom (2016) :30 (USA)

Kitchenaid want to talk to the home chefs that have adventures in food, just like the British Lurpak "adventure awaits", and the Swedish Arla butter "create something magical" campaigns.
"My kitchen is more than a room" a woman voice over declares. The insight is clear from the opening shot as a woman opens her fridge, and to her it's like looking out from a grand stage. But somehow we veer straight into a tone-deaf territory that is reminiscent of that terrible Kendall Jenner Pepsi ad. "Freedom" the ad shouts, with images of outdoor runs, dancing in the rain and deepwater dives as "this little light of mine" percolates in the background. It is as if the creative were just checking off a visual bingo without much thought. "It's my escape" the voice-over woman declares as a Kitchenaid food processor whips the egg whites for a future sweet. And as we juxtapose sugar raining on raspberries, to confetti raining over a dance-floor, she concludes "where ever my ambition takes me."

What is so tone deaf about that, you ask? All of her freedom images are outside of the kitchen, while all of the magic in the Lurpak and Arla butter ads happen inside the kitchen, as they truly celebrate the joy of cooking.

This ad only has women, as if men never cook, and somehow as it uses the words "freedom" "ambition" and "escape" while carefully enticing the female consumer to find joy in utensils, it feels like a trap, rather than an odé to the great home chef. Like the Special K "Women eat" campaign this ad is trying so hard it becomes patronising. Do you creatives need help in how to speak to women over there in the US, or is it the clients who ruin the subtleties?

Client: KitchenAid