Here’s a little experiment:
Watch the ad below, but pause it around about the 20-second mark.
Now answer a simple question:
What, in your view, is the general tone of this ad?
Having decided this, here’s the same ad: now watch it through to the end.
Surprised? Offended? Many people were. The ad was first aired during the 2015 Super Bowl final. It caused an immediate backlash which forced the advertiser, Nationwide, an American insurance company, to issue a statement after the match. “The sole purpose of this message [in the ad],” they said, “was to start a conversation, not sell insurance.”
Ah, yes: of course it was.
The issue in this ad centres around what psychologists call ‘play signals’. A play signal is, quite simply, a sign that the subsequent message is going to be humorous and both parties are tacitly agreeing to this. A good example of this can be found in jokes. If I were to say to you:
“Knock, knock…”
Or:
“What’s the difference between…?”
Or use a well-known set up, such as:
“How many [X] does it take to change a lightbulb?”
…You’ll be expecting a humorous exchange to follow.
Sometimes, of course, play signals aren’t even explicitly stated. A play signal can be a raised eyebrow, a shared glance, a knowing look. If you go to a try-out night at a comedy club, and the lights go down, and someone approaches the mic, you’ll rightly expect to be amused rather than, say, lectured on moral philosophy.
This matters in advertising. One of the classic ways to get the play signals going is by getting a comedian to present your ad:
…But it doesn’t have to be that explicit: it can be more subtle. This McDonald’s ad does it terrifically. The swagger of the soundtrack (“The Boys are back in Town”) is coupled with three teenage lads packed into a humdrum Ford Ka, being driven by their mate who’s a bag of nerves. It tells us everything we need to know. This is gonna be fun. This is gonna be funny. And it is.
Let’s get back to our Nationwide ad. The fact that is was first broadcast during the Super Bowl, an event synonymous with humour and advertising1, and contained a number of warm play signals — the boy being kissed, the boy grinning with his dog, the upbeat soundtrack — meant “the audience was expecting a light-hearted or humorous resolution”2. This, of course, didn’t happen. The play signals were there. But they were subverted too abruptly and, indeed, violently. The viewer felt misled.
Too many play signals and no humorous resolution, then, can be very dangerous for a brand. But what happens when there are too few play signals? This is the foundation of the famous “Funny, how?” scene from Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas. Tommy, played by Joe Pesci, ratchets up the tension with Henry, played by the late, great Ray Liotta. What starts out as a bit of teasing soon contains the element of icy threat.
Finally Tommy concedes — but not before everyone, including the audience watching the movie, gasps for breath.
Play signals matter. When it comes to billion-dollar brands, or debates in bars with well-dressed gangsters, they’re a serious business.
Many thanks for reading,
Paddy
www.studiogilmore.com / pg@studiogilmore.com / +44 7866 538 233 / Twitter: @mrpaddygilmore
A curious feature of working in advertising is that, whenever you read about American TV ads, discussion of the Super Bowl is seldom far away. This is partly because of how costly it is, so the brands that advertise are going to be putting their best work out — at least, in theory — and paying top dollar for the privilege of doing. Or perhaps advertising academics are all American football fans on the quiet? Try this for size: “Budweiser’s frogs and lizards and other humorous advertising presented over the years are as much a part of the history of the game as Adam Vinatieri’s game-winning field goal in Super Bowl XXXVIII or Scott Norwood’s missed field goal in Super Bowl XXV.” Gulas, Charles; Weinberger, Marc: Humor in Advertising, 2006.
Gulas, Charles; Weinberger, Marc; Swani, Kunal: Humor and Violence, 2017.