BREAKING NEWS: Americans really like their junk food! CRUSHING NEWS: It’s making us all really unhealthy, and we need a healthier option. Like a vegetable. Like baby carrots! But some people don’t like carrots, and some people don’t like babies, so how do we sell America on baby carrots? Silly ads that look like they’re for candy! While people are split on veggies, everyone likes self-aware advertising techniques.
Someone made the brilliant discovery that baby carrots can be a very convenient and tasty snack alternative to sweet, salty, and fattening things. But they need to be rebranded as “awesome,” and that requires good marketing. Baby carrots are inherently adorable because they’re small, but something like that makes for a somewhat hilarious juxtaposition when advertising is considered. People like to think that consuming something is as good as base jumping, science fiction, or sex, or some odd combination of all of the above. And that’s precisely what the carrot people — who we’ll call The Carrot People for clarity — had in mind when they made their latest round of ads for baby carrots.
Up top is the science fiction version that also parodies how women are sexualized in ads. In this case, a funky alien lady turns her male captive into a mass of baby carrots, similar to the style of 5 Gum. There are no bones about it — The Carrot People know how silly it is. It’s silly to advertise gum like that, and it’s even sillier to advertise baby carrots like that.
Then there’s the whole “Lady Satisfaction” style ad, which turns any product that can be considered “indulgent” or even “naughty” into a sure-fire formula for achieving orgasm through the mere act of eating something. It’s usually something chocolate, but in this case? You guessed it — baby carrots.
Mmmmmm, can you taste the irony? Ooooo, so dirty … make sure you wash those baby carrots first.
Finally, there’s the whole “X-TREEM” advertising genre that’s supposed to convince consumers that what they eat will be so amazing it will induce a heart attack, but in a good way! It’s ridiculous, but it’s even funnier considering how X-TREEMLY HEALTHY baby carrots are! You will scream because you cannot hold in the excitement that is eating something that is good for you! Yayyeeeeeee! I did something AWESOME for myself today! YESSSSSS!
By the way, all that packaging they’re showing in these ads are actual packaging, so the branding is carried all the way to the supermarket.
What can we take from this? Are The Carrot People pandering to us with these intentionally silly ads? They’re well-made ads, and they’re definitely funny, but are they going to get the message across? Is there a chance that the humor is taking away from the actual selling of baby carrots? Obviously, baby carrots are prominently featured in all of these videos, but we’re not really being sold on the benefits of baby carrots — we’re being sold on the comedy behind the ads. So, A for effort?
