Let’s get this out of the way: Yes, juvenile humor is still OK. Kmart’s “Ship My Pants” spot is still just as funny, charming and joyously silly as it was in 2013.
What’s not OK, especially after all the tales of hostile work environments that have been highlighted by the #MeToo movement, is an ad that celebrates sexual innuendo in the workplace, which is exactly what Jack in the Box and agency David&Goliath have done with a new ad called “Jack’s Bowls.”
The spot, which is basically a minute of incessant genital jokes, promotes the brand’s new teriyaki bowls by having fictional executive Jack reference them as testicles. “You’ve got some pretty nice bowls there,” Jack tells a male colleague, “but so does Dan.” A female employee then also compliments Dan on his “nice bowls.”
In perhaps its most telling moment, the ad tries to go meta by having a lawyer explain to Jack that the campaign is inappropriate, but (in a commendably accurate portrayal of male executives), he doesn’t understand what the fuss is about.
Read more at AdWeek: https://www.adweek.com/agencies/jack-in-the-box-just-launched-one-of-the-most-tone-deaf-ads-of-the-metoo-era/
