I can’t believe I just saw this, but I just did. Sometimes, I just don’t know what the advertising people are thinking when they tie products in with movies. Even stuff like Chef Boyardee tied in with Star Wars seems really silly, since nobody eats crappy canned mushy pasta in ketchup in Star Wars, but since it’s kids’ food, I guess it kinda makes sense in the roundabout way of the fact that the Star Wars name/image on the can might attract the attention of a kid who would then nag, annoy and harass their mother until she acquiesced and bought it for them. But Farmer’s is an insurance company! What the hell does insurance have to do with X-Men? And even more to the point, how the hell could a tie-in commercial deal between Farmer’s Insurance and the X-Men movie make anyone even think about buying or wanting to buy insurance? Or is this just another example of an attention-getting ad that flashes a company name at you which you immediately forget upon the spot’s conclusion? (True, I remembered it, but only because it made me think: “What the hell does Farmer’s Insurance have to do with X-Men?” Surely this cannot be their strategy! Can it?)
I just can’t imagine Farmer’s Insurance playing any part in the X-Men movie, and if it doesn’t, why the hell is the movie being spun out into a Farmer’s Insurance ad? I mean, are people supposed to go see the movie, then see the ad on TV and say: “Hey, I want to get that insurance like the X-Men have!”? Or are they intended to see that ad and be fooled into believing that the X-Men work for Farmer’s and that maybe they’ll get to meet a mutant if they get Farmer’s Insurance? Seriously, I just don’t get how this ad is supposed to make people want to buy insurance from Farmer’s. What does any of this X-Men stuff have to do with insurance anyway? I’m not trying to be difficult; I just don’t see how this is a good idea, and I’m pretty sure Farmer’s is shelling out quite a bit of cash for the right to do this. If you’re going to spend a lot of money to license something to help sell your product, shouldn’t it actually help you to sell it? I’m just wondering.
Here’s the ad. See what you think:
