New Subway radio spot sucks as much as the new sandwich its selling
Published January 6th, 2010
I work in advertising, so I hear things every day that make me feel like I’m losing my mind. Then there’s ads like this radio spot from Subway for their new “Barbacoa Sub” that make me go the full Napoleon.
I’m not a food critic, but I do have to eat to survive and let me just say that I tried this sandwich already and will skip it the next time I’m in Subway. I called Taco Bell “white boy Mexican food” last night (link) and now I have to take it back because Subway went one whiter. I swear the chick behind the counter just shoot her head when I ordered this the other day and wondered why we own everything.
Anyway, let’s talk about this little gem of an ad. First of all, you called the commercial an “ode,” which I guess is technically correct, but a bit much for a sandwich. It’s cheap beef on cheap bread for a cheap price, the Romans aren’t writing poems about this thing.
Second, this statement: “Sure, ‘Barbacoa’ has a lot of vowels in it…” Did the copywriter peak too soon or was it Bring Your Kid to Work Day?
LEAD COPYWRITER: OK team, sitting in today is my little boy, Timmy. He’s a little slow, so don’t let him near anything sharp.
TIMMY: I’m an airplane!
LEAD COPYWRITER: Great, son. Anyway, let’s hear some ideas on this new Subway sandwich. Free form it. Go!
COPYWRITER #1: It’s got beef!
LEAD COPYWRITER: Good start, keep it going.
COPYWRITER #2: It’s foreign, like that fling you had in college.
LEAD COPYWRITER: Too much, stick with food.
TIMMY: Barbacoa has a lot of vowels!
LEAD COPYWRITER: Good son, but that’s not really a selling point.
TIMMY: VOWELS! VOWELS! VOWELS!
LEAD COPYWRITER: Crap, he’s not going to let go of that, we’ll have to leave it in. Try and make it look like we mean it with some clever bullshit at the end and people will think we’re just being funny.
COPYWRITERS #1 & #2: Gotcha, Chief!
LEAD COPYWRITER: Timmy, stop eating daddy’s stapler.
TIMMY: Mommy doesn’t love you!
LEAD COPYWRITER: You’re adopted.
I know, I know, it’s just a clever bit of word play. A joke if you will. The problem is, it sucks… a lot. If you’re going to try and include something goofy like that as a fake selling point, then you need someone goofy doing the selling, not your bold voiced announcer. Sure, the bold voiced announcer comes off a little goofy because he calls his speech an “ode,” but not nearly enough to pull off a joke about the name of the sandwich.
That joke is the equivalent of that kid that used to try and trick kids into playing “The Name Game” with a name like “Chuck” or “Buck” to make you accidentally drop an F Bomb in front of your wood shop teacher. So, unless you want those accusing three remaining fingers pointing at you, I suggest you work on the spot a little more.
J.
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