Instead of skimming social media posts and hashtags for news updates, The Economist wants you to go deeper. Putting aside the sexual innuendo for a minute, “Dare 2 Go Deep,” created by Atmosphere Proximity, confronts an important topic in our short-attention-span world that continues to value speed more than depth. Investigating into the news instead of repeating tweets is one way to do this, according to the campaign. The attached video features the inspirational verve of comedian/actor J.B. Smoove, who must’ve taken some time off from his video game endorsement duties to help us all go deeper.
While the campaign was probably built with good intentions, it’s hard to ignore the blatant innuendo, which comes across as a dad trying to be funny in front of his kid’s friends with some stiff entendres. The Economist, after all, boasts a large chunk of readers who earn six-figures–maybe going deep is an awkward way to reach out to younger demographics? Smoove thrusting on a Segway and yelling, “I go deep,” as the spittle from the corners of his mouth land on students in the eighth row is a great stroke, but maybe not for current and future readers of the magazine. J.B. Smoove is still awesome enough to make the video enjoyable, just want to reiterate that point.