EDITOR’S NOTE: This post reflects my interest as a marketing student in advertising and sports marketing. The opinions expressed here are mine and in no way reflect the opinions of my employers.

Just spotted on AdWeek’s Ad of the Day: An ESPN commercial from Wieden+Kennedy features none other than Bob Ross, a TV painter whose PBS show undoubtedly distracted entertained scores of Gen Xers before the advent of cable televisions’s Golden Age and the Internet. AdWeek already has a nice overview, so I’ll just add my two cents on why this spot works: The commercial’s retro setting (e.g. the brown paneling, the Sears silk curtains, the bamboo furniture) along with the actor’s costumes and props, give it a weird but effective then-meets-now that will resonate with Xers 35 and older who were so bored at Grandma’s back in the 1970s and 1980s that they gave into Ross and his paints and spent the captive, believing they too could paint happy little trees. And that makes for a happy little memory.

 

You’re always taking the TV to watch all your painting shows.

 

~ Husband,
ESPNWatch commercial, May 2012

 

 

The ESPNWatch “Paintings” spot was posted on ESPN’s YouTube channel on May 21. At the time of this writing, it had 2,471 views.

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