This is the recent ad that starts with Denis Leary saying: “Okay, listen up!” And then they’ve got graphics putting some of the stuff he says up on the screen in different colored letters. They’ve been running ads like this one with the same look and feel for a couple of years now. They feel kind of like a lecture to me already, but his new one, where he says: “Listen up!” crosses the line with me. I don’t like being bossed around by TV commercials, and I seriously doubt if big tough guys who drive these pickup trucks like it either. Unless maybe they’re going after the bondage and discipline crowd? Maybe bondage & discipline disciples buy more trucks than any other demographic, but Ford didn’t want to turn off other customers by blatantly pandering to them by having a gimp in a leather mask and a ball gag in his mouth trying to say the ad copy through the gag, and having subtitles so we can understand what he’s trying to say. But hey: maybe they ought to do that! It might be funny enough to make people remember that they need to buy a new pickup truck, and they’ll think of how it will help them move around all their bondage stuff they couldn’t fit in their car last time around. But for the regular tough guy worker crowd, I’d think this commercial, with it’s bullying approach, would make them rebel against the bossy line readings, and say: “Up yours, Ford spokesman: you can’t tell me what to do, man!” And then they might just hit the mute button and buy a Chevy truck. (Or a Toyota, and paint out the “TO” and “TA” so it just says “YO” on the tailgate. Or was that just an ‘80s thing?)
I haven’t been able to find this specific spot on YouTube, but here’s another one that’s running currently with the same style and feel, although not quite as bossy:
