Gatorade dropped an ad starring Peyton Manning on Thursday morning, timed to coincide with the NFL Draft later that after**on. Manning, the top overall pick of the 1998 draft, retired earlier this year following a legendary career.*
It's a forced connection to a trending news event. It's a spot clearly intended to tug our little heartstrings. It's obviously designed to tap into an emotionally resonant vein and shoot a massive dose of good ol' commodity fetishism right up that mothertrucker — all in the name of selling Gatorade.*
We k**w all this. We are "woke," as the kids say. But — dadgummit! — the spot still works like a charm.* Read more...