America. Freedom. Gasoline?
This ad by Marathon Petroleum has pulled out all of the cliches to make their new commercial for gasoline as Americanized as possible.
The nauseating spot features a red, white and blue stripe (that’s definitely not fuel emissions) that imposes itself through numerous sights that encompass America, such as a road sign that reads “Independence”, a soldier getting a hug after a presumed long deployment, the word freedom spelled out by sparklers and a motorcycle driven on the open road. This is all topped off by the cheesiest tagline ever: “Fueling the American spirit.”
The kicker in all of this, is the terrible song played over the ad. It’s a country song about America and freedom. Here’s the lyrics to the song, which I’ve transcribed to show you how simple complex the songwriting process must have been.
There’s people who care where I’m going,
And good friends to welcome me home,
So get a full tank of freedom, drive the American road,
And with a full tank of freedom find your own highway we’ll take you wherever you go,
Take you wherever you go.
I know after listening to that, all I want to do is pop open a Budweiser and polish my gun - and I’m Canadian!
If you really want to listen to the song, you can download it at the company’s website. I can’t think of any better form of self-torture. Kidding aside, this ad is terribly cheesy and over the top American - which doesn’t have to be a bad thing, but in this case it is.
I leave you with this YouTube comment on the video, which truly captures my feelings on the ad.
