JC Penney

JC Penney took some flak for being out of step with today’s teens when it used music and themes from the 1985 film The Breakfast Club in ads last year. Still, that effort probably resonated more with the target audience — familiar with the era from cable TV and Hulu — than the client’s latest back-to-school push. The impromptu cafeteria “fashion show” is an adult’s idea of what a “cool” or “hip” day at school would be like, if the adult in question was highly jaded and worked in marketing.