Over at Slate, Seth Stevenson takes a look at Miller beer's new advertising spot and gives it a "B." You've seen it, I'm sure: it's the ad where people fall down. One knocks down the next, like rows of human dominoes, all through the city, until inside a bar one brave soul manages to avoid the domino effect. He then turns and orders a Miller beer. Stevenson writes:

This spot kicks off Miller's new campaign, and it's a remarkable feat of choreography. (Even more so than Miller's last ads, which featured the catfighting models who rip each other's clothes off.) The dominoes effect is no trick--it's just 150 stunt people falling down, over and over (changing outfits between takes), to create a city full of human dominoes. It's perfectly done, in large part because the stunt people are so good. (One of them is a gymnastics champ; another is a judo champ.)

The lesson here is evident: Don't be a sheep. Break from the pack. But while the message is crisply transmitted by the visuals, and the spot itself hugely entertaining--I especially love the more creative falls, through revolving doors and such--I'm not so in love with the brand strategy.

Stevenson points out that the strategy seems odd, in that the "break from the pack" approach would arguably lead a consumer to try "a chichi new import or a carefully crafted microbrew" rather than a Miller product. From my vantage point the ad was actually disappointing: I watched all these folks fall down, and the tagline was "drink our beer?" The setup and the payoff were far too attenuated, and I candidly couldn't tell you what beer the ad was for (which may influenced by the fact that I don't normally drink beer, I'm not sure). All in all, I'd say it was an interesting concept, but the premise and the product weren't well connected. I think as a piece of video, it deserves a B at least; as an advertisement, I'd say it deserves a C at best.