Is this a new era of marketing directly to stoners?
In Ben & Jerry’s new ad for its in-shop confection, the Brrr-ito, a young woman wearing an ice cream server’s uniform runs into a room of slack-jawed young men staring at a screen showing a boring old ice cream bar.
What happens next should be no surprise to those of you who remember Ridley Scott’s famous ad for Apple in 1984 introducing the Mac.
The music sounds like one of those sad ice-cream trucks that roll around the suburban wastelands of America, doing out sad little ice cream sandwiches and popsicles. Why waste your precious, stoned-out time on something like that, the ad seems to say, when the Ben & Jerry’s Brrr-ito will sate even the hungriest toker with its hand-rolled waffle cone stuffed with ice cream and delicious sauces?
The young woman spins around in a hammer-throw spiral, tossing the Brrr-ito she’s carried in at the big screen. When it hits the giant TV, the screen blazes white, and a hit of cool, frozen air blows past all the bearded hipsters, making them smile in pure stoned-out bliss.
“On April 20th, Ben & Jerry’s will introduce the BRRR-ito,” says the voice over at the end of the short advertisement. “And you’ll see why 4.20 will be exactly like ‘4.20’.”
There’s the direct marketing bit, referencing everyone’s high school memories of 4:20, when you’re all supposed to head out behind the shop classroom and toke up. It also echoes the end of the 1984 ad perfectly.
Better yet? The tagline at the end of the ad: “Have one rolled for you in scoop shops April 20th.”
Roll one up starting this coming Monday and attack those munchies at the source.
Here’s the original ad, directed by a young Ridley Scott, for comparison.
