Ah, the Super Bowl, one of the biggest American sporting events of the year. A clash of the two most dominant football teams in the NFL going head to head for the famed Lombardi Trophy. And this wasn’t just any old Super Bowl either, it was the big 5-0, a whole half-century of the game. However for those who don’t have so much interest in football, the commercials are what to look forward to, as they are just as grand and flashy as the But just as the NFL was having a historical season, the commercials this year were making history for… other reasons.
The date is February 7 in the year of our Lord 2016. You sit down on the couch with your family and friends to enjoy the big game and root for your favorite team. The drive ends, and the screen fades to black with NFL on FOX horns playing in the background as you and everyone else eagerly anticipate the new ads. You are not ready though, not at all prepared for the unholy abomination that is Puppy Monkey Baby.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQcfK9EKfL4
You stare dazed and confused at the screen as the next commercial rolls by, unable to trust your eyes. You think to yourself: Why? Why a puppy monkey baby? How does this relate at all to a Mountain Dew Kickstart? Is there something that I’m not getting?
To answer the last question in short, no, it’s just a terrible advertisement. But let me break down exactly why it’s so bad anyway.
In this commercial, Mountain Dew was attempting to market it’s new drink Kickstart, what they refer to as a mixture of dew, juice, and caffeine. Keep in mind, this was an era when Old Spice had become wildly successful with its campaign of ludicrous advertisements that excited the public with just how zany they were. So, it only made sense for other companies, like Mountain Dew, to try and get in on this success, too. Sadly, their attempt only came off as unimaginative and weird for a few reasons.
First of all, the concept of a puppy monkey baby hybrid of sorts being comparable to the “awesome” combination of dew, juice, and caffeine in Kickstart was simply lazy. The creation constantly repeats its name “puppy monkey baby” as the scene plays out to drill the concept into the audience’s head, but that doesn’t make it any more interesting. Is it supposed to be cute because a puppy, monkey, and baby are widely seen as such individually? It sure doesn’t come off as cute but actually just super annoying. Anyone can put three different things together and call it an “awesome’ combination (just like the combination of dew, juice, and caffeine in Kickstart). I’ll even demonstrate to prove it: a mixture of a Clifford the Big Red Dog, Mario, and Obama. Now, picture the same ad in your head except replaced with my Frankenstein-like humanoid. Has anything really changed marketing-wise? No, it didn’t, and this is because it was an unoriginal idea to begin with that really had no place on television.
Along with this, the actual product being shown off is barely even depicted at all. It isn’t until the final five seconds of the clip that something is even mentioned about it, and even with that it’s only description is having dew, juice, and caffeine. This is something I would expect in a Mountain Dew anyway, so how is Kickstart any different? Why is it barely explained? Sure, you could argue that throughout the ad they are seen drinking Mountain Dew Kickstart, but honestly if the final five seconds were not included I don’t even know if I would’ve caught that. The concept of a puppy monkey baby chanting its existence over and over again is so distracting that the actual product in place is unnoticeable. To summarize, this promotion fails because it doesn’t highlight the drink, but rather distract viewers from it with an absurd concept.
But in the end, my real bone to pick with Mountain Dew is something I hinted towards earlier, which is that it’s a clear rip off of the Old Spice campaign. But where Old Spice was original and entertaining (for the most part), this was just hollow and bland. I actually used to get excited when an Old Spice commercial came on just to see what kind of outlandish stunt they would have Terry Crews do with his deodorant in hand. You know a product is well advertised when you have the audience ecstatic about a bar of soap or spray can. So when I saw this Mountain Dew commercial, it only left a bad taste in my mouth. If you’re going to clearly steal another company’s shtick at least do it well. Or at least make any kind of attempt at all for that matter really.
Well, that’s my full rant front and center of the page. I hope you hated this ad as much as I did, because it really doesn’t deserve to be remembered in any good light. But even with so many terrible commercials in circulation, we can all still hope for a few good ones when the next Super Bowl rolls around.