It seems as though commercials stray further and further from their main goal — to sell a specific product — every day. Sometimes that takes the form of something along the lines of launching a wild campaign to mourn the death and rebirth of a peanut, but more often, it comes in the form of commercialized sentimentality that could drive even the softest of hearts to cynicism.
And when something falls into the latter category, a fun game that viewers at home have often taken to playing is trying to guess what on earth the tearjerker/inspirational/gut-punching commercial in question is attempting to sell before that one final screen that actually has something to do with the product.
One video that recently went viral may have taken the full-on WTFery of these types of commercials to a whole new level.
If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly suggest watching it first and doing your best to guess what product it’s promoting. I’ll wait.
im losing my mind. there is no way you’re going to be able to predict what this ad is trying to sell you
finally, now more than ever, women can buy our product pic.twitter.com/f68JCM7vvt
— bara godzilla (@baraGodzilla) May 8, 2020
The odds seem pretty high that you were unable to see that reveal coming, mostly because literally nothing in the entire commercial sets it up to connect, in any way, to Hasbro’s trying to convince young girls they can finally play a version of Monopoly just for them.
Seriously, no one saw this coming.
I guessed Nike. Guess we were both wrong
— CamLovesWrestling (@CoolCamDestroys) May 9, 2020
Goes nicely paired with pic.twitter.com/dSc8AjxCLG
— Shady Ranger (@ShadyRanger) May 9, 2020
i genuinely thought this was gonna be some tech company’s “women in stem important so now we have internships and scholarships” and which would be bad enough but my god
— Love Never Dies Slaps (@belle_toast) May 8, 2020
I’m an Apple fan and I was really expecting an iPad to jump out of that box. It just felt like the right sorta “hey look how supportive we are at Apple” Or like “iPad changing the world and the definition of computers” 😅
— Josh Jacobson (@jjacobsonpm) May 9, 2020
And we are all worse off for having seen it.
Now I can understand the concept of chess. Thanks chess for girls pic.twitter.com/9WPWSCBs1f
— Cheryl Mireles (@cherylita81) May 8, 2020
— Psykodeliks = Psyko the Space Cowboy (@PsykoSC) May 8, 2020
You got that far? I was already stuck on “thankfully, most girls don’t know this thing that we’re broadcasting everywhere right now to get into the minds of as many people as possible”.
— Sledge (@SledgeHammerAOG) May 8, 2020
Plus, the idea of what is billed as “feminist” Monopoly severely falls flat.
Ms. Monopoly was first introduced in 2019, and featured the ability to invest in inventions by women rather than in property. It also includes caveats for female players to get more money for certain events than men, as a confusing nod to the gender pay gap.
wait the women get a higher salary than the men??? but that’s… that’s not… the whole point is…
— i bless the rains down in castamere (@Chinchillazllla) May 8, 2020
— Fox Buchele (@FoxBuchele) May 8, 2020
But it’s an attempt at commercializing feminism that falls dramatically flat for adults and makes things unnecessarily complicated for children.
Gendered razors and vitamins are already insane enough, but now we’re trying to say boys and girls need separate classic board games? As if it wasn’t already impossible enough to find enough players willing to sit through potentially hours of Monopoly without limiting it by gender.
sexism is finally over. we finally did it
— bara godzilla (@baraGodzilla) May 8, 2020
This has to be the most deeply ironic ad in the world right now. The original Monopoly was invented by a woman, but did they even mention that or how their company ripped her off? Nope.
— ieldanth (@ieldanth) May 9, 2020
I sure blew it by playing when I was young. Didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to.
— Alice aka Moon Cat (@mooncat_alice) May 8, 2020
And not the regular game, oh no. They need their very own lady game for their delicate lady brains. 😐
— The Pie Patch (@ThePiePatch) May 8, 2020