BBDO New York launched a new spot promoting Campbell’s Star Wars-branded line of condensed soups, entitled “Your Father.”
The spot, which launches the new “Made For Real, Real Life” campaign for the brand, shows a father feeding the soup to his son and delivering the iconic “I am your father line” with his best Darth Vader impression. The boy’s other father then chimes in with an impression of his own (I think you can figure out where this is going), but fails to impress. Like Hallmark’s Valentine’s Day effort, Honey Maid’s “This is Wholesome” campaign and this Wells Fargo ad from April, the spot aims to celebrate the diversity of the current American family. Such an approach, while increasingly popular, unfortunately still draws its share of bigoted detractors — as a cursory glance at the spot’s YouTube comments can attest (might not want to leave the comments open next time, guys). There’s one thing that everyone should be able to agree on, though: that is truly an unfortunate tagline.
“We wanted to show actual families, which means families of different configurations, cultures, races and life choices,” Yin Woon Rani, vice president of marketing activation, said in a statement. “The American family is changing faster than at any time in recent history and it is now a true mosaic of shapes and sizes, all bonded through love, and love of good food.”
And Star Wars.