Reel Opinion: Ben Mooge

This month’s Reel Opinion comes from Ben Mooge, Creative Partner at start-up agency Work Club. The format should be familiar by now, as the former Mother Creative Director gives us his view on five ads that caught our attention over the past few weeks. Enjoy.

Ben Mooge
Creative Partner
Work Club

McDonald's 'Planting'

Agency: Leo Burnett / London

Production: Academy / London

Director: Tony Barry

A hoard of messy, well-cast children, under Tom and Barbara style adult supervision, grow organic flowers like the ingredients in McDonald's’ Happy Meals. It’s all honest, well shot and observed, and not a million miles away from the Persil 'Dirt Is Good' work. But that’s my slight problem with it. Are they avoiding the issue? Surely a burger is a wonderful, guilty excuse. A burger for burger’s sake. Burger porn in a time of deli sandwiches. I miss Mayor McCheese. That really was a Happy Meal.

Comfort 'Naturists'

Agency: Ogilvy / London

Production: Thomas Thomas / London

Director: Jim Gilchrist

A naturist with fully-clothed wife in marriage guidance. In the wrong hands, this could easily be dreadful. It’s not. There’s a few nice touches in it; the headband; the groin injury; the line 'Is this the kind of stuff you bring into our house?' Could it be funnier? Sure. Is this better than the usual fabric softener ad inflicted on the public? Absolutely.

NSPCC 'Hands'

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi / London

Production: Nexus / London

Director: Carolina Melis

Silhouette hands guide a picture book boy through a picture book landscape. And it is rather lovely animation, it really is. But I suspect it may be easier to remain apathetic to child abuse when everything is only shown as lovely. There’s always a case for abandoning out and out shock tactics but I just wonder whether this has gone too far the other way. Like the ‘Weapons of Love’ line, though.

Converse 'My Drive-Thru'

Agency: Anomaly / New York

Production: Psyop / New York

Director: Marie Hyon / Marco Spier

Converse and Rock n Roll. That’s quite a good brand fit, then. Given that Kurt Cobain blew his brains out in the product, and that no-one needs to know anything else about a pair of shoes that everyone owns at least 5 pairs of; probably not a bad idea to focus on the rock and the roll. And they’re giving something back to their audience, good for them. Nice lo-fi handmade-effect video that was probably really expensive. Just a bit of a shame that the tune sounds like it came straight out of Prince’s big purple recycling bin. Mind you, Prince could probably do with going back there himself.

Vodacom 'We Are Having It'

Agency: Draft FCB / Johannesburg

Production: Velocity Films / Cape Town

Director: Adrian De Sa Garces

African Military Dictator comedy from Vodacom. Uniformed leader denies the effect that this propaganda has on him, as he always gets what he wants anyway. Hopefully this is a typical/topical South African / Zimbabwean joke, because it’s not normally a rich seam of humour. Maybe you just had to be there. Or not.