Pepsi Black
November 7, 2016 9:44 PM   Subscribe

While the USA's reputation has taken a hit lately, it's good to remember that many living there are just decent human beings going about their job. Themed "Keep Walking America," this particular road trip is powered by a heartfelt spoken-word rendition of "This Land Is Your Land," Woody Guthrie's iconic 1940 celebration of social justice and inclusion. Voiceover artist Rommel Molina provides the narration, including some phrases in Spanish, during the 90-second spot below. His lightly accented recitation, plainly stated yet intense and yearning, speaks volumes about the American experience.

"As we were developing the campaign, we felt strongly that the spoken lyrics of our anthem should be powerfully delivered, distinct and an authentic representation of America's cultural diversity," Stephanie Jacoby, client vp of marketing, tells Adweek. "We are proud that the lyrics are read in both English and Spanish, reflecting the mix of languages spoken daily in our communities."

The ad starts off with some lines often excluded from recorded versions of the song: "As I went walking, I saw a sign. And on the sign it said, 'No Trespassing.' But on the other side, it said nothing. That side was made for you and me."

Spoken over a moody montage of average folks going about their daily grind—including an ER nurse, a cattle rancher, a ballerina and a military veteran—those words really resonate.

"We hope this work is not only an inspiration but a reminder that each and every one of us have an important role within society," says Anomaly New York CEO Karina Wilsher, "and that individual progress can lead to collective progress for the future of our country."


(Note: Yes this is an alcohol ad.)
posted by Megami (32 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's Request -- loup



 
Good video. But I'm pretty sure that woman in the white coat was an emergency physician.
posted by borborygmi at 10:10 PM on November 7, 2016 [2 favorites]


It's a Johnny Walker ad.
posted by carping demon at 10:12 PM on November 7, 2016 [3 favorites]


Yes this is an alcohol ad.
posted by The Hamms Bear at 10:25 PM on November 7, 2016 [4 favorites]


Here's to the road ahead.

One more for the road!
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:27 PM on November 7, 2016 [3 favorites]


An ad post is one thing. An ad post with agency and client execs earnestly explaining how selling Johnnie Walker helps America is a bit much.
posted by grobstein at 10:29 PM on November 7, 2016 [4 favorites]


Well, it sure as hell helps me...
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:43 PM on November 7, 2016 [4 favorites]


We can be a diverse, unified nation...

...but until then, there's Johnnie Walker.
posted by JauntyFedora at 11:48 PM on November 7, 2016 [9 favorites]


Interesting the mix of obvious visuals: Marlboro Man, Flashdance Welder, hospital TV drama doc, Norleans Jazz Band, Soldier Coming Home, wedding. The spoken song is lovely of course and the sentiment even lovelier, but the visuals should have been much more most creative. (Best part of it is the implication that in America, running is walking. That need for speed....)
posted by chavenet at 1:37 AM on November 8, 2016 [1 favorite]


On one hand, I think there is real value to messages that try to foster empathy by pointing out that we are more alike than we think, and that encourage peace and harmony. But on the other, I think those same messages can be a another tool of oppression when they engage in false equivalence.

The fact is that a man who is dangerously unqualified and unfit for the presidency has a (slim) chance of winning it, due almost entirely to appealing to white racism. This racism has been stoked by the political establishment, but the political establishment didn't create it; it has been here since Columbus.

The people who have been on the receiving end of this hatred don't need to be told to get along. They don't need to be told that we're more alike than we think--that we're all just trying to get by. That is the way messages of solidarity get turned into weapons to be used against people agitating for change. "Can't we all just be friends?" is an absurd thing to say when you see someone being attacked with a baseball bat.

I feel divided from much of my country right now, and it's not because I don't value solidarity. it's because I don't expect oppressed people to be martyrs. I don't think that they should be expected to respond to attacks with love, to stand there while some swivel-eyed racist goes at them with a baseball bat and say "it's okay, I understand where you're coming from! We're all Americans!"

At least, that's how I feel when people tell me I should empathize with misogynists or homophobes, so I can't even imagine what it is like for racial minorities in the US right now. I know it's actively frightening for many.

I don't want these people to be seen as just some Americans trying to get by. I don't want their views normalized, as they have been by this campaign. I want them to be seen as dangerous. I want their values to be seen as extreme and un-American, and I want their politics cordoned off from the mainstream with bright yellow biohazard tape. They are not part of my family, they are not my friends, they are not my compatriots, and they will not be until they change.

The people who need to hear this message of togetherness are the ones who are doing the attacking. When you aim it at everyone you minimize the problem, turning it into some general nasty "divisiveness" where everyone is equally at fault. But that's not what's going on. That's where the false equivalence comes in.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 2:40 AM on November 8, 2016 [31 favorites]


And since I hit post to soon -

I can't view the full ad, and from the description this might not be what it's trying to do, since it is focused on the value of cultural diversity (???).

But I am feeling a little sensitive right now because a lot of well-meaning people have tried to promote this kind of sentiment as the political climate heats up. All this does is make me feel more worn down and disillusioned, because I don't think they take the issue seriously enough.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 2:45 AM on November 8, 2016 [3 favorites]


Woody Guthrie brought to the American citixen/consumer by the American arm of Diageo, the British multi-national company. To flog Johnnie Walker.

Diageo:
Beer: Guinness, Tusker, Smithwick's, Harp Lager, Kilkenny, Kaliber (non-alcoholic), Windhoek

Scotch whisky: Johnnie Walker, Buchanan's, Cardhu, Justerini & Brooks (J&B), Bell's, Black & White, White Horse, Logan, Caol Ila, Vat 69, Oban, Talisker, Lagavulin, Glen Ord, Glenkinchie, Dalwhinnie, Cragganmore, Clynelish, Singleton, Haig, Royal Lochnagar, Glen Elgin, Knockando, The Dimple Pinch

Vodka: Smirnoff, Cîroc, Silent Sam, Popov, Ketel One

Gin: Gordon's, Tanqueray, Booth's, Nolet's Gin

Rum: Captain Morgan, Bundaberg, Pampero, Cacique, Myers's, Zacapa

Bourbon: Bulleit, Orphan Barrel

American Whiskey: Seagram's Seven Crown

Canadian whisky: Crown Royal, Seagram's VO

Tennessee whiskey: George Dickel

Tequila: Don Julio, Peligroso, DeLeón

Schnapps: Black Haus, Rumple Minze

Baijiu: Shui Jing Fang, Nếp Mới

Mixed drinks: Archers, Pimm's, Jeremiah Weed, Smirnoff Cocktails

Liqueur: Baileys, Sheridans, Yukon Jack, Godiva
Drinkers of the world unite! Love, peace and harmony! And remember: Drink responsibly!

Also: If you drink, don't drive!

Cheers!
posted by Mister Bijou at 3:15 AM on November 8, 2016 [6 favorites]


Living in Britain, over the past few months if you were to get an impression of the place from reading news articles and even comments on here you'd think you were living in a fascist hellscape populated entirely by swivel-eyed racists.

I dunno, the stats don't say it's all swivel-eyed racists, just a quarter to a third, which also matches my day-to-day experience of living here.
posted by Dysk at 3:20 AM on November 8, 2016 [3 favorites]


Woody Guthrie's iconic 1940 celebration of social justice and inclusion.

Um. These lyrics from "This Land is Your Land" were omitted:

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?


*rubs temples*

I'm just gonna leave this here...

Woody Guthrie: All You Fascists

Lyrics:

I’m gonna tell you fascists
You may be surprised
The people in this world
Are getting organized
You’re bound to lose
You fascists bound to lose

Race hatred cannot stop us
This one thing we know
Your poll tax and Jim Crow
And greed has got to go
You’re bound to lose
You fascists bound to lose.

All of you fascists bound to lose:
I said, all of you fascists bound to lose:
Yes sir, all of you fascists bound to lose:
You’re bound to lose! You fascists:
Bound to lose!

People of every color
Marching side to side
Marching ‘cross these fields
Where a million fascists dies
You’re bound to lose
You fascists bound to lose!

I’m going into this battle
And take my union gun
We’ll end this world of slavery
Before this battle’s won
You’re bound to lose
You fascists bound to lose!

posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:20 AM on November 8, 2016 [13 favorites]


As far as tear-jerking, social-justice-y ads go, Jarritos has Johnnie Walker totally beat. (Español)
posted by neroli at 5:27 AM on November 8, 2016 [1 favorite]


I've lived and gotten birthday cards in Seattle, rural WA, SE Alaska, San Francisco, Des Moines IA, South of New Orleans and in New Orleans proper (and some Canada besides). I'm coming for you New York
I unabashedly love the US of fucking A.
Honestly, it's a great and kind country. Many places I'm a foreigner but I'm always welcome - from backwoods Louisiana to Ocoee county Florida to SF. The farther from the interstate the better it gets.
You should give it a look if you can.
posted by vapidave at 5:30 AM on November 8, 2016 [2 favorites]


Not everyone is welcome.

Sundown towns. Armed, angry men patrolling the borders, hunting for Mexicans. Even my own experience, as a white American, is that being welcomed depends a lot on how willing I am to hide who I am.

One of the difficulties with this kind of solidarity messaging is that experiences between people differ a lot. I really enjoy the culture of hospitality and casual friendliness in my area of the US--but it's also only the surface. One aspect.

People can be wonderful and kind and hateful at the same time. It's complicated and we usually only see one aspect at a time. Your impression of what it's like to pull over to ask for directions in a small town in Indiana might be very, very different than someone else's.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 5:48 AM on November 8, 2016 [3 favorites]


This ad might be the dumbest, most jingoistic thing I've seen since that Dylan superbowl ad for budweiser a few years ago (the one he didn't receive the nobel prize for).

Although it is fitting that what is seen as tearjerker-y Americana is, indeed, an advertisement for a multinational liquor company.
posted by yonation at 5:56 AM on November 8, 2016 [2 favorites]


a multinational corporation using a woody guthrie song to peddle booze is incredibly gross, but i expect nothing less from multinational corporations
posted by entropicamericana at 6:41 AM on November 8, 2016 [5 favorites]


I can't view the full ad, and from the description this might not be what it's trying to do, since it is focused on the value of cultural diversity (???).

You might want to, since it feels like you're responding to something very different than the ad, which is most/all people of color by themselves or in groups of other POC doing daily activities, and then, like, some pictures of mountains. I don't want to get too caught up defending it because it's an ad and I've seen better versions of this sort of thing, but it's a little tricky to get from its content to what you're saying about solidarity messaging.
posted by Copronymus at 6:44 AM on November 8, 2016 [1 favorite]


This multinational marketing machine kills* fascists.

(*Killing not guaranteed in either the literal or figurative sense.)
posted by tobascodagama at 7:09 AM on November 8, 2016 [5 favorites]


coming soon:

CGI Woody Guthrie: "Howdy, I'm Woody Guthrie. You may 'member me from such ditties as "I Ain't Gonna Be Treated This Way" and "The Jolly Banker." When I'm blowin' down the road the feelin' bad or got them worried man blues, ain't nothing that feels as good as a nice glass of Johnny Walker Black. That's right, Johnny Walker Black. [sips] Ahhh. I may be worried now, but I won't worried be long!"
posted by entropicamericana at 7:26 AM on November 8, 2016 [2 favorites]


They actually do have Johnnie Walker Blue, which I never got around to trying before renouncing strong drink.
posted by thelonius at 7:52 AM on November 8, 2016


I have tried to think of an intelligent comment to make but I can't. The only way I can digest this kind of digital studio humbug is...well I have indigestion. This sort of branding is so omnipresent that I find myself wondering who the client is with every video I see online. Especially the "heartfelt" ones. I don't understand how anyone can watch this kind of thing and not see that it's sentiment or "values" are merely convenient and disposable to everyone involved in its creation or if not that exactly certainly lazy and riskless and bloated with self importance.
posted by Pembquist at 7:54 AM on November 8, 2016 [3 favorites]


Oh, capitalism.
posted by beerbajay at 8:25 AM on November 8, 2016


As far as tear-jerking, social-justice-y ads go, Jarritos yt has Johnnie Walker totally beat. (Español yt )

That Jarritos ad is great.

Except for how soda-fueled diabetes is killing way more Mexicans and Mexican Americans than the minutemen even dream of.

So yeah, capitalism
posted by TheProfessor at 8:28 AM on November 8, 2016 [1 favorite]


Guthrie's music has been used in ads for Jeep, Audi, , and ad for Lucky Strike cigarettes, North Face clothing, , and Shutterfly. EFF noted that This Land went into public domain in 1973.
posted by Ideefixe at 8:34 AM on November 8, 2016 [1 favorite]


You might want to

I said that I can't, not that I chose not to. My comment was also mostly in response prompted by comments in this thread, although I didn't want to single anyone out by quoting them.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 8:43 AM on November 8, 2016


Point taken Kutsuwamushi. I do have to say approach (if you are having fun the people around you are happy you are there) matters and I'll leave it there.
posted by vapidave at 9:28 AM on November 8, 2016


Where is the I.W.W. when you need them?
posted by Postroad at 9:40 AM on November 8, 2016 [2 favorites]


I also once worked on a Johnny Walker campaign
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 12:23 PM on November 8, 2016 [1 favorite]


soda-fueled diabetes is killing way more Mexicans and Mexican Americans than the minutemen even dream of

The people won't survive
All our refreshments
The sweet, sugary, fat calories of our pop.
I only had a Jarritos
FIVE CENT DEPOSIIIIIIIT!
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 12:42 PM on November 8, 2016


Oh crap I just watched that Jarritos abomination and now there is nothing left for me to do but kill myself!
posted by Pembquist at 6:37 PM on November 8, 2016


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