Hasta La Creative!

john st. has a new holiday campaign for Future Shop that appeals to the selfish side in all of us by reminding viewers that tech gifts are “Gifts You’ll Want Too.”

The spot follows around a man as he gleefully tries out a variety of devices around Future Shop. “I thought he was shopping for your mom” says a confused retail worker, to which his embarrassed daughter replies, “He is.”

The obvious message of the spot is, while you could get your significant other some kind of clothing/jewelry/etc. that they, and only they, will enjoy, if you shop at Future Shop you can give them something that you’ll enjoy just as much. It may be kind of a selfish viewpoint, but its one john st. hopes wins viewers over with honesty.

“We’re all guilty of doing a little ‘me-shopping’ when doing our holiday shopping for our friends and family. ‘Gifts you’ll want too’ is a cheeky way of showing how you can make them and yourself happy
with the same gift.” said Angus Tucker, executive creative director at john st., in a press release

“What differentiates Future Shop from other gift-giving destinations is that when you give the gift of tech, other people get to enjoy it as well,” added James Pelletier, director of brand marketing, Future Shop…”It’s a win-win – for the gifter and the getter.” (more…)

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Back in 2011, john st. unveiled this spot for Corby Distilleries Limited, part of their “Wiserhood” campaign promoting Wiser’s Whisky brand, in which a dickish guy makes a big deal over holding his girlfriend’s purse for a minute. He drops the bag on the ground, potentially damaging the contents within, and uses a plastic bag to pick it up, which he then turns inside out — as if the purse was, in fact, a steaming dog turd. Now john st. has resurrected the somewhat sexist “Wiserhood” campaign with a new spot featuring another boyfriend of the year.

In “Swan Song,” a couple are at the movies when the guy sees a display ad for a new action movie called “Swan Song” that contains the tagline “Death is back for an encore.” When his significant other returns (presumably from the bathroom or something) she asks if he’s picked a movie for them. They look at the movie titles currently showing and the woman says “Hmm…’Swan Song,’ sounds romantic.” The guy enthusiastically agrees, in all likelihood knowing fully well that his significant other is going to utterly hate the movie for the next couple of hours. What a dick.

Here’s my problem with this spot, putting the sexism aside for a moment: Who goes to the movies these days without knowing what they’re going to see? Going to the movies is freaking expensive. Too expensive to go into all willy-nilly “I’ll see whatever” and just walk into a terrible movie. Plus, people tend to know what’s playing from advertising and the Internet. If they don’t know what’s playing, they look it up and pick something out before going to the theater. It’s not 1994. While I understand that this is a short ad, and isn’t all that considered with verisimilitude, this still bothered me. It makes the spot seem like it’s from a different time, which I would guess is not what they were going for. Credits after the jump. continued…

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