You are now entering Ad Space, a realm of commercials, brought before us so we might examine how they work, and discuss why we both love and hate them so. So it is written …

The Product:
Life, in all of its turbulence and beauty

The Promotion:

The Pitch:
Wait, all of that was for frickin’ Subway?

I am convinced that someone in Subway’s marketing division just wanted to make a short indy film, and got a sandwich company to subsidize it.

The disconnect here, between the first two minutes (an artistic, dialogue-free montage depicting one person’s journey from birth to manhood) and the last ten seconds (Eat At Subway!) … I burst out laughing the first time I saw this. And I know a bunch of other folks have, too. For a while, it was a thing on social media to post this commercial with the challenge “guess what this is an ad for”, because who the hell would ever guess Subway? (Of course, that doesn’t work if, like here, you can see the video title with Subway in the name.)

If this had been an ad for, say, a university, or a life insurance company, or hell, maybe even a brand of car, just something whose purchase would have a major impact on someone’s life, then maybe this ad would work. But we’ve followed this dude through all the ups and downs of their coming of age, only for the culmination to be them deciding between flatbread or Italian herb & cheese. It’s hard to think of something more frivolous and less deserving of such build up then buying a fast food sandwich.

…

You know what, let’s make a game of it: if you could change the ending of this ad so it shilled a different business, what would be even more hilariously incongruous than Subway?

…

Charmin?