The Domino Effect

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.

Article Author: W.E. Wallo

W.E. Wallo is a book and movie junkie whose writings have appeared in a variety of print and online publications.

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