Coor Light has begun putting up billboards featuring more of that urban hero, the bike messenger. According to AdRants, they dirtied up his carrying bag while leaving his clothes and hands pristine.
Some observers are distressed. Their point seems to be “leave hard-working lowly messengers out of your fancy corporate messages.” But their battle cry, at least this time, is for versimilitude, reality in ads. Hello? That was never even on my copywriter’s radar — not like humor, memorability, a powerful theme line, strong benefit selling. (Did you ever think a commercial was a documentary? Very rarely.)
This follows a recent Lincoln print ad in the New York Times Magazine that apparently borrowed a famous messenger’s nickname, “Squid” without permission.
A well-known bike messenger objects to the fake squeaky cleanliness of the messenger photo and the lack of a bike lock and chain around the messnger’s waist..
I know something a beer client’s way of thinking because I worked on a beer account, and my guess is they’re trying create a modern hero — like the Marlboro Man or heck, Ronald McDonald — for their brand. If they find the right one, this will be a terrific image that will boost the brand for years.