There is something about this ad that left me with an awkward taste in my mouth... and it wasn’t the acidulous taste of colorful nutritionally enhanced water. Let me explain...
First of all, did anyone know that it is Comedian/Actor Marlon Wayans narrating the commercial?! I am a huge fan of all the Wayans Brothers and happen to follow Marlon Wayans (@MarlonLWayans) on Twitter. While he was making this commercial and when it was aired he was constantly tweeting about it and would retweet some feedback he received about the outlandish ad. However, I am wondering why they would not show the face of a good-looking celebrity like Marlon Wayans?! In the commercial, he was to be perceived as sick and had a jumbo pillow wearing glasses as a head. It seems like a waste of a solid celebrity cameo and is instead replaced with a character resembling an inordinately contemporary and deviantly amplified version of a Rene Magritte painting!
On Left: "The Man in the Bowler Hat", By Artist: Rene Magritte
On Right: Vitamin Water Commercial
Marlon Wayans is an attractive guy and has no reason to put a pillow case over his head. Even as a fan it was hard for me to recognize his voice during the 33 seconds of him reciting a random script about being in a “Snuggie”…umm… his “Woman” was mad or something… and… well- somehow Vitamin Water cured him and rescued him from rejection from a pair of gargantuan legs in fire engine red heels. So- unless you go to sleep every night listening to Marlon Wayans’ movies or you are one of his (approx.) 228,000 followers on Twitter- you probably had no idea that it was him narrating the commercial.
Second of all, when I think of Vitamin Water or anything with the word “Vita” (the Latin and Italian word for “life”) in it I think of health, refreshing and revitalization… Not smoking weed and getting drunk… which is what I think of when I hear Kid Cudi, especially when I hear his commercial featured song “Pursuit of Happiness” (click link for lyrics). Don’t get me wrong, I am a Cudi fan as well but his rep is basically that all his songs are about getting high “Day N’ Night”. He is even cited on UrbanDictionary.com as an artist to "blaze to". Naturally when I saw a Vitamin Water commercial that professional athletes have promoted before, I was surprised to hear Kid Cudi’s music playing in the background. I think his music would be more appropriate in some sort of "munchies" commercial. Hmm... That may even be an ingenious sub-liminal campaign… it could be a secret trigger for Stoners nationwide; to advertise Flaming Hot Cheetos with Kid Cudi music in the background… Now that combo should roll a blunt for you and have it pop out of your DVD player.
Anyway- let’s see… maybe Vitamin Water is going for the younger/munchies/hangover crowd. However, for some reason I see that strategy diminishing their brand image of health and rejuvenation. What do you think? And why am I suddenly craving Red Vines and Funyuns?!
SHOUT OUT TO ALL MICHIGAN STATE FANS, STUDENTS & ALUMNI! FINAL FOUR BABY!
GO GREEN!
