Okay, here we have the T-Mobile girl ditch her usual prim
& proper sundress for a black & pink motorcycle outfit. (People are
making a really big deal out of this, but I really feel I must point out that
she has already appeared in an ad in a skin-tight leather motorcycle outfit:
that one hot pink & white leather. And that was really great, too! So this
is just a color thing, and not some new hot side to her we’ve never seen
before. I’ll attach this ad, too.) Then she takes an elevator down to the
basement and jumps on an Italian Ducati (Hey: Buy American! How about a roaring
Harley chopper?) and zooms off into the night like she’s Batgirl or something.
Maybe they could have her fight the evil corporate mascots of other cell-phone
providers? (Like maybe Candace Bergen as Murphy Brown from Sprint?) Or maybe
beat-up super-villains like Roaming Man, or Unexpected Charges Man, or Ironclad
Contract Man! (Or do they profiteer off of that stuff too? I don’t have
T-Mobile, so I don’t know.)
And this ad looks great, don’t get me wrong, but there’s a
bit of a messaging issue for me, and it has everything to do with what little
language they’re using. They say: “No more Mr. Nice Girl.” (MISTER Nice Girl?) And then they say: “It’s time to set
the record straight!” So is she trans-gendered? Is this the big reveal they’re
going to make here? They call her “Mr. Nice Girl”, and then say
there’s a big thing they have to set the record straight about. Well, I’m not
trying to act like there’s anything wrong with trans-gendered people, but
that’s the message this ad appears to be implying here, or at least, that’s how
it seems to me. Does anyone else see that too? It just seems like they’re using
language that teases us to think she’s a “she-male” or something. And that’s
fine with me, if that’s the direction they want to go in with their brand, but
if that’s not what they want to tell us,
then it’s kind of a big distraction from what they do want to say. Don’t you think? (I
mean, we’ve already seen her in a tight leather motorcycle outfit with a
super-bike, so what else is new, here? It’s nighttime?)
Plus, electronica
music for a leather biker babe ad? Are you guys crazy? How about some Mötley
Crüe (like: “Kickstart My Heart”), or some early Metallica (like:
“Motorbreath”), for God’s sake! Honestly! (This ain’t no disco, after all! {For
those who don’t get that reference, that’s from a Talking Heads song about the
legendary club where they got their start: CBGB’s, also a real punk & metal
haven! That’s where I used to play, too!})
Here’s the sexy, sultry, rubber-squealing, tailpipe-smoking
spot (Va-Va-Voom!:
Literally.):
And here’s Mr. Nice Girl’s pink & white leather
motorcycle outfit ad:
Here’s another take on this ad, that feels a bit more, um, I
don’t know, maybe a bit “propaganda-y”?:
