Ad Nauseum: What Is Jack in the Box Thinking?
You know what’s really funny? Pedestrians getting hit by a bus in the crosswalk.
At least that’s what the marketing department at Jack in the Box apparently decided before putting together their “Hang in There Jack” campaign which kicked off with a bizarre commercial during the third quarter of the Super Bowl. I can only imagine what friends and family of Gwendolyn Coleman thought if they were unfortunate enough to be watching the Super Bowl and paying attention to the commercials.
In the commercial, “Jack” is walking next to a random person, trying to sell Jack in the Box food, and steps into a crosswalk on “Hope Street” in what could very well be Downtown Los Angeles. Because Jack is the only person who crosses the street, we’re supposed to believe that he is so happy talking about fast food that he crosses against the signal without checking to see if traffic is coming. Sure enough, what appears to be a Metro bus, just marked as an Express in the advertisement, slams into the cartoonish commercial personality sending his hat flying and his body sprawling. The ad ends with a plea to find out how Jack is doing at the “Hang in There Jack” website.
I’m sure that if criticism of the advertisement makes the mainstream someone will explain that the campaign is designed to raise awareness of safety issues but with a website that says things such as “In lieu of sending flowers, please ORDER ANYTHING ON THE MENU, ANYTIME OF THE DAY, Jack would want it that way,” the fast food chain seems to be having way to good a time parodying what is a horrific tragedy that wee see way too often.
Fortunately, there’s plenty of spaces on the “Hang in There Jack” website to leave feedback. Feel free to leave some here as well.
Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.
