P&G's Always scored a smash hit with "Like A Girl." Now, that women's empowerment campaign has a new parody—about the expectations society puts on hamburgers.
Ground meat purveyor Schweid & Sons is out with an video—from Night Agency—that cribs its format from "Unstoppable," the second big commercial in the Always effort to break down limiting definitions of femininity. In the the butcher's spot, titled "Make Burgers Great Again," goofy guys lament the state of affairs at cookouts, and smash cardboard boxes with phrases scrawled on them meant to symbolize the limitations they've experienced while trying to, say, stack hot dogs on top of hamburgers.
That might make the new spot sound like it's in poor taste. In a way, it is—the issues Always has been tackling are real, and worthy of the attention they're getting, and more. But there's also a decent amount of melodrama in the original—which is still designed to move product—so it's fair game for skewering, and Schweid & Sons brings plenty of its own self-deprecating humor to the table.
Some of the jokes are a bit broad, and perhaps dated. It's likely to be an instant winner among anyone who's ever tried to put mayonnaise on a burger in America (New York and other Meccas of food snobbery, where the topic is a lively debate, probably do not count). But other irresistible highlights include one man's gripe that society tells him he "can't drink grease," or another dude's assault on a stack of boxes while wielding a spatula and tongs.
The best parts, by far, feature the only woman, "Natalie," who refuses to participate—the ad's nod to the idiocy of its own conceit when compared to the substance of the original.
Overall, the gag evokes parodies of Dove's "Real Beauty" advertising. Schweid & Sons might feel like it's trying a little too hard at moments, but the overblown stupidity is part of the comedy, too. And its biggest problem is probably more of a business one, namely the degree to which it piggybacks on another brand's message.
Then again, at least it's not objectifying women.
