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Hey Corporations, Don’t Be The “Schooner Tuna” Guy
Sometimes It’s Not In The Cards
Americans have deemed the most unhealthy restaurants “essential.” And many essential business models—like fast food companies (I see you McDonald’s)—are inundating us with commercials of clumsy CEOs reading haphazardly from cue cards.
First it was email, pie in the sky manifestos informing us how companies were protecting us against Covid. Now, their serious brows are invading our living rooms. Yet consumers can always sniff out the real from the fake. Or can we?
Mr. Mom is a comedy from 1983 that spawned many reverse-gender role movies that followed. Jack, (Michael Keaton) loses his job at a Detroit car manufacturing company during an ‘80s recession. His wife, Caroline, (Teri Garr) seamlessly enters the workforce by landing a job at a boutique advertising agency, leaving Jack at home with their three kids.
Caroline’s agency must work quickly to reverse the declining sales of the country’s favorite tuna: Schooner Tuna. She pens a heartfelt Americanized speech which is to be delivered by Schooner’s CEO. They run with it.
So what does this ‘80s movie and its commercial have to do with advertising during COVID-19? (And why does Mom call the vacuum cleaner Jaws?) Click play on the video below to find out:
