Euro RSCG

Euro RSCG Chicago for Barilla pasta.

I couldn't resist finding the absolute epitome of cheesiness in advertising. Oh my lawd this commercial is bad; it's so cheesy, I can't believe Barilla hired someone to make this. I hope Euro RSCG got paid in spaghetti because this is hovering on the border of bad parody. It has been hypothesized that in advertising, the more bland the product, the more unique the advertising must be. Yeaaa, Euro RSCG wasn't at the office that day. When I watch this ad, there are so many elements that jump out at me as disconnected and really just nonsensical. First, there is that fact that these people, who are clearly American, are living in Italy, but they make store-bought pasta. There's also the sexy, foreign neighbor who comes over to eat dinner; at first it looks like the wife is having an affair with the neighbor, then it looks like maybe he's really into children. Moving on to when the two women are in the kitchen, where the french are they? This lady is cooking in a rustic, open fire Italian kitchen-give me a break, this is the worst kitchen set ever created. Then the dialogue starts, and it's all downhill from here.

This is the kind of work I would expect to see from an in-house agency; the whole concept and execution looks like it was slapped together in a matter of minutes. For some reason, a lot of food advertising ends up this way; incredibly cheesy and boring. However, Goodby proved that even a product as boring and bland as milk could be turned into nothing less than a cultural revolution. There are creative ways to market any product, but this just looks like Euro RSCG didn't have the time or the consideration to try to make something creative. So we get stuck with..."Barilla, you're such a good mom."