Ah, the 80s music video. Always open to parody. So moody and serious that the bands may have been secretly parodying themselves without telling anyone (Duran Duran), which is why it’s not even that strange when an anthromorphic unicorn finds its way into Fiat’s new spoof/commercial, “The Fatherhood,” directed by Matt Golding of Rubber Republic.
The spot may not go platinum, but its predecessor, a rap parody called “The Motherhood,” has close to 4 million views on YouTube. Apparently, people really eat up the parental-commiseration genre.
In “The Fatherhood,” a pale Gabriel Macht lookalike sings about his lack of sleep to a synth-pop beat. He spends his nights driving around in his comfortable Fiat 500L as his two babies cry in the backseat. I can’t tell you why a unicorn appears midway through the video, but I can tell you that it feels totally appropriate for the song. These Fiat spots can strike the corny nerve from time to time, but they’re salvaged by some risky humor and solid writing (“the one fun act that got me here/I don’t get that anymore.”) There’s even a subtle allusion to “The Motherhood,” which makes me think the creatives at krow communications actually had fun making this campaign.
And is it just me, or is the song catchy? I’d listen to it on the radio–it has better production value than half the songs the stations repeat anyway.