Slate Reviews POWERade Advertisement

Seth Stevenson at Slate has a very nice in-depth review of the POWERade spot, with the two Amish farmers, that resulted in the recent lawsuit, and the subsequent settlement that led to the spot's termination.

"The joy is entirely in the details," writes Stevenson. "The fact that one of them wears a yellow wrestling helmet while the other sports a royal-blue headband. The incongruously hard-edged rock on the soundtrack. The Pegasus-like wings attached to the horses, for no apparent reason. And, of course, the master stroke of having the Amish babe drop her bonnet—like a bobby-soxer in a '50s teensploitation flick. That all this happens in about seven seconds is both an impressive feat of concision and a wise tactic: The joke is head-slappingly simple ("Amish drag race" was the three-word pitch, no doubt), but it's over and done before it has a chance to wear thin."

Despite its creative angle, Stevenson ultimately gives the spot a B because he agrees with me and others that POWERade Option has to be compared to Propel, not Gatorade. I should note that the author says he got the details of the lawsuit from this site: "I'm taking this text from a Gatorade blog -- the very existence of which stunned me. Can we trust the work of a man who writes a blog devoted solely to Gatorade? In this case, I think we can.)"

Thanks for your vote of confidence, Seth. I'm not sure what you would have said if you realized I wrote a book on the brand as well. By the way, you can read his article here: http://www.slate.com/id/2138668/

Comments

[David]

I can't imagine that they didn't notice the book on the site but who knows it is Slate. Since your are the business reporter for ESPN and they are getting NASCAR next year have you thought about a book on financing a Cup team or now the hardest thing in the world a Busch team? Man those guys are getting flogged by the BuschWackers. Then again ESPN get exclusive access to Busch so it may work in. I have read Larry Macs book, the cheating book. It is such a closed society much like Baseball and Football. Then again they don't want to irritate the omnipresent NASCAR family.

[Darren]

David,
If I did a book on financing a cup team, I'd focus exclusively on the field fillers. These guys like Kirk Shelmerdine are absolutely amazing. How a guy like that is even on the track given the gap in revenues and spending is among the most amazing things happening in the sports today. I mean the guy basically finished 20th in the Daytona 500 using cooking oil!