Humpty Fall Ad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgh6K1TXw28
This advertisement is a satire of the humpty dumpty children’s story, where the character Humpty who is a giant human like egg is sitting atop a high wall. Then he falls and no one can put him back together again as he is a broken egg. The ad starts in a parking lot when three men dressed in medieval armor start running towards the camera, we then see Humpty Dumpty all broken and grotesque on the pavement. The knights try to put him together again and sort of do, then the police came and question the knights asking how he had fallen to which they reply he was doing his taxes on the wall, and we also see Humpy’s phone which has the logo of Turbo Tax on it. We then see him being airlifted away to a hospital, after which a news report pops on retelling that story to which numerous people are baffled wondering why anyone would do their taxes while sitting on top of a wall. To which Humpty replies while properly put together again but recovering, because you can in an angry voice. We then see the logo for TurboTax which says TurboTax anywhere, after which the ad ends.
The advertisements target audience is everyone over the age of eighteen who is required to pay their taxes which is essentially everyone watching the ad during the super bowl which is close to tax season. The tone is very comedic from the contrast of medieval characters next to modern people, and the fact that it is centered around this humanoid egg which has broken open in a scene that would be quite gory if it wasn’t for the fact that it was merely a cracked egg not blood and viscera.
The company TurboTax is identified twice during the advertisement, first when the police question the knights on why Humpty had fallen. The second time the company is shown in the ad is at the very end when the TurboTax logo and motto appear before the fade to black as the commercial ends.
This ad tells a humorous retelling of the children’s classic lullaby humpty dumpty who fell off a wall. The story is changed a fair amount however as it is not set during medieval times as it is originally told, yet elements of that story remain with the ending being changed completely in service of the app that TurboTax is promoting in this Super bowl ad. The main changes being of course that it is set during present day to relate to the audience, and Humpty does not die as he did in the nursery rhyme story he simply was put together correctly by doctors.
Keith A. Quesenberry’s research indicates that it was not sex appeal, cute animals, beer or any mere characters that determined whether an ad was a success or failure. But rather whether it possessed likability and a story that the audience can follow, which will typically follow Shakespeare’s Five Act plays. This TurboTax ad does not have any memorable characters or anything but it does possess a story, just as Quesenberry had predicted.
TurboTax’s commercial from last year was quite different than the Humpty story. Instead of telling a story the ad showed Anthony Hopkins saying he was not a sellout while promoting TurboTax throughout the whole commercial. Which is very different than the ad I chose as it does not follow a story and seemed to have no point, whereas the newer ad was all about how convenient there app is.