Ad Snacking: The Ad Where Sonic Unabashedly Courts Stoners
We recently debuted a new column by Eli Sussman, former ad-man and current cookbook author and cook at Mile End in Brooklyn.
Is it a dirty little secret that a lot of fast food is consumed by stoners? Somewhere in a nondescript boardroom, are executives studying a Powerpoint presentation titled "Increasing Our Stoner Market Share?" God, I hope so. When Taco Bell created taco shells made out of Doritos, they weren't trying to appeal to health-conscious moms. They wanted carloads of teenagers to flock to Taco Bell like moths to a nacho cheese flame. Our parents took roadtrips to see The Who. We drive hundreds of miles out of our way for In-N-Out. Well the times, they are a changin'.
This week's video is a perfect stoner shoutout from the good folks at Sonic. I'm not quite sure if Sonic has any real locations, as I've traversed much of the contiguous USA and have yet to see one in real life, but their commercials are brilliant.
This drug-induced dream sequence commercial, heavily influenced by The Big Lebowski's gutterball dream interlude, packs a lot into 30 seconds. It's even got a sweet cover of America's "You Can Do Magic." Before you start the video, feel free to find your favorite piece or maybe McGuyver a 20-ounce.
Click here to see the magic, then read my expert analysis below.
Product: A+ The Burger Really Tied The Meal Together, Man.
The real danger of being stoned is that your capacity for food consumption skyrockets. The star of our commercial begins to fly through an onion ring vortex/wormhole into a magical Oz-like land of Sonic deliciousness. But then he can't decide what he wants.
Big Problem: All of Sonic's creations are too delicious.
Solution: Order them all!
Messaging: A+ Careful man, there's a beverage here!
In a world of "no substitutions, please" menus, it's refreshing that fast food still lets you get it however you want. This commercial has made it perfectly clear that I can order the most ridiculous, revolting combination of food, say a chili cheese fries tater tots hot dog burger – and no one at Sonic is going to judge me.
Ad Creativity: A++ That's just like, your opinion, man.
In the words of SNL's Stefon, this commercial has everything: a flying jalapeño, rollerskating fast food delivery babes, a 100-foot mountain of cheeseburgers, cheesy tots that explode into fireworks and a hipster Jesse Stahl, which is that thing when a cool black dude channels the famous cowboy and lassos cherries off a skyscraper-sized milkshake.
We'd love to hear your thoughts on this ad and if you want Adsnacking to tackle any ads you've spotted, leave them in the comments section below!
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