It used to be that when Hollywood stars wanted to get rich making TV commercials, they did it in Japan where no one would notice. The Internet spoiled that lucrative gig, though — that and Conan O’Brien putting Arnold Schwarzenegger’s bizarre ads for an energy drink call Vfuyy into heavy rotation. Lately, with the rise of short-form video as the primary entertainment format for audiences under 30, commercials have become an accepted, even desired, way for a celebrity to maintain/tweak/remake his or her public persona. Which brings us to Matthew McConaughey’s spots for Lincoln’s compact crossover MKC model. Right off the bat, it’s an inspired match-up of car and star, since 2011’s “The Lincoln Lawyer” was arguably the first film in the McConaissance that peaked this year with HBO’s “True Detective” and an Oscar win for “Dallas Buyers’ Club.” Now Lincoln wants some of that mojo back. Three of the five MKC spots have been released so far, all trying to hit a sweet spot of mysterioso bad-boy Zen. “Intro” has McConaughey accelerating out of a nighttime city to a pulsing “Drive”-style score, rasping “Sometimes you’ve gotta go back to actually move forward.” “I Just Liked It” gets the star out on a country highway, trying to defuse the notion that HE’S DOING THIS FOR MONEY by having him drawl that he always drove Lincolns. The third spot, “The Bull,” is the keeper: McConaughey and his silver MKC stopped in the road and staring down a very large steer — “1,850 pounds of ‘Do what the heck I want’ ” — before pulling a U-turn and taking “the long way around.” Why is the bull named Cyrus? What does this have to do with cars? Why aren’t there bongos in the back seat? To ask such questions is to belittle the subterranean mechanics of modern pop branding, where a star monetizes his allure, a mass-produced vehicle becomes a statement of borrowed individuality, and we consumers just get to buy in.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 11:52:54 +0000
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