Maybe it is just me, but Target’s new ad campaign leaves me feeling awkward for them.
One shows a young couple on a date and the enthusiastic guy hands the girl he’s hoping to impress a gift. She opens the box to find a necklace and her face falls while saying something like, “Oh, I didn’t think we were there yet.” I assume she is implying that he spent way more than what she felt the relationship was worth? Nice. The guy awkwardly stumbles over his words with a “don’t worry it wasn’t that much.” She says okay good… and they are left staring at each other with awkward smiles. Message received, Target gifts can ruin your budding relationship.
Another ad shows a young family opening gifts from Santa. The mom opens her gift to reveal a new flat screen TV. Dad’s eyes widen in surprise and through his tense fake smile for the kids says, “I thought Santa was scaling back due to the recession this year?” Mom responds that Santa shopped smartly this year. Dad tries to make another comment and mom cuts him off with a strong Santa doesn’t need any help doing his job. Again they stare at each other with tense smiles for the children. So now gifts from Target can cause strain in your marriage. Awesome.
There is another family Christmas gift opening ad, where the little girl opens a doll and suddenly looks super sad. Her parents ask, “Isn’t that what you wanted?” The little girl starts to confess that it’s all just too much, she was a bad girl this year and starts to spill all the things she has done wrong. Her parents stare at her blankly before stopping her with a, “it’s okay, we really didn’t spend that much.” This one is better than the others, but it just falls short of funny.
I realize they are trying to say that Target gifts seem expensive, but they are actually affordable. I just don’t think leaving viewers feeling bad for the people in the ad is the way to go. They should go back to the happy shiny people ads like Gap and Old Navy. If I’m going to buy meaningless crap, then I want the gift receiver to feel good about it.
